The 76th Precinct loses a gem, by George Fiala

Captain Justin Lenz, head of the 76th Precinct since October 2013, tweeted that his last day at the precinct was “bittersweet.” We feel the same way. Lenz, who was transferred to the 101’st Precinct in the Rockaway’s at the beginning of this month, was one of the reasons we felt that the Red Hook community has been very lucky lately.

There is a Community Precinct meeting tonight at 7:30 at the station house on Union Street, and it will be our last chance to see the Captain in an official capacity (unless we get busted on the beach out there!). The Star-Revue will be there to wish him the best and meet the new CO. Although who knows, pethaps he will come back to run in a local road race (as he has), or hang out with us at the next Old Timer’s Day, which would be his first in Coffey Park.  I will make it a point to visit the 101st once in a while, just to stay in touch – he’s that good a guy.

Here is what we wrote back in November, and it bears repeating today:

Justin Lenz, who has commanded the 76th Police Precinct for the past year is another lucky break for Red Hook. In just one short year he has noticeably changed the culture of the local police force.

For one thing, he has abandoned the good guy/bad guys approach of his predecessor. He is sincerely interested in improving the safety of all Red Hookers – front and back.

His officers no longer seem to glare at everyone, suspecting evil intent everywhere. Instead, he has set the tone for real community policing.

He has become a familiar figure at local events, including the annual Old Timers Day. He was at the Barnacle Parade, enjoying himself as the parade was officially sanctioned by his department this year.

At the monthly community meetings, he is not defensive – giving a stock answer to every complaint (which was to take your complaint to the Civilian Review Board), as was done in the past.

Instead, he listens carefully to everyone who shows up and, much as Menchaca does, tries to figure out a common-sense answer to each problem.

All this is helped out by his easy going personality and evident humanity.

In the midst of a pretty crazy year for policing, Captain Lenz has kept our neighborhood secure and calm in his common-sense, humanistic way. The Rockaway community doesn’t know how lucky they are, but they will soon.

And maybe a bit further down the line, we’ll get to see Captain Lenz more often again, when some smart mayor makes him Police Commissioner. You never know!