MAYOR GIULIANI PRESIDES OVER DEPARTMENT OF PROBATION CITYWIDE AWARDS CEREMONY
Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and Commissioner Raul Russi today presented over a dozen awards to hardworking men and women of the Department of Probation during its first award ceremony in seven years. The officers were cited for outstanding service in redirecting the lives of probationers, both juveniles and adults.
"The Department of Probation is a vital partner in New York City's law enforcement community," the Mayor said. "Day in and day out, your service helps thousands of people get back on the road to self-sufficiency, back on track to living lives in which they are accountable for their actions. Probation teaches accountability and responsibility, two concepts that are central to any understanding of freedom in the United States. When you help people adhere to what the law requires, you teach them that they have an obligation both to society and to themselves."
"Over the last four years, the Department of Probation has been instrumental in many of initiatives that have turned this City around. We have asked more of you, and you have delivered. Without your efforts, we never could have reduced violent crime to levels not seen in this City since the 1960s.
"Working together, the Police Department, Department of Correction, other local, State and Federal law enforcement agencies, and the Board of Education, we will also implement an anti-gang strategy -- a coordinated approach to crack down on street gang activity. Gang resistance and intervention programs to prevent the City's children from becoming involved in street gangs will also be begun in the City's public schools," the Mayor said. The Department will also play a role in making Washington Square Park a drug free zone.
The Department will also undertake efforts to ensure that known gang members are subject to intensive supervision and curfew restrictions.
The Department of Probation supervises 90,000 adults and 4,000 minors passing through the corrections system every year. For the first time, two other agencies have won Department awards. The Department of Sanitation won for providing a work site for hundreds of probationers sentenced to perform community service and South Forty won for working to provide employment opportunities for adult probationers.
"The employees we honor here today set the highest possible standards for their colleagues, for the entire city, and for departments of probation throughout the nation. You are true public servants -- you help people maximize their freedom and use their potential."
Awardees are:
- For Exceptional Performance: P.O. Obiageli Udoji for developing a system that reduces the time it takes to sentence prison-bound offenders and Angel Alicea for developing databases that track cases and improves efficiency.
- For Exceptional Achievement: P.O. Jacqueline Walwyn for bringing in a counselor in the case of a young woman who secretly gave birth in a bathroom and then threw the infant out a fifth-floor window. The doctor had done extensive research and was considered an authority on neonaticide from a similar high profile case. Fernando Quinones also won for delivering presentence reports on time, a job that used to be held be several people, and professionalism under pressure.
- For Exceptional Valor: S.P.O Joseph Asselta and P.O. Dario Radosolvich for their courage, resourcefulness and ability shown in an emergency situation. The two responded were heading toward Brooklyn on the Williamsburg Bridge when they spotted a car on fire. They approached the burning vehicle, saw the driver was still trapped, and worked together to free the injured occupant and pull him to safety. A life was saved and tragedy was averted.
- For Employees of the Year: S.P.O. Mary Mullen for creating a system that greatly expedited the production of modified reports for prison bound defendants; Michelle Guerrier for assessing probationers to appropriate treatment programs; and Shannon Motley for her work at the Conditional Release Commission.
- For the Douglas Bruce Award for Managerial Excellence: Iris Hill for her dedicated work, commitment and devotion to improving standards and providing leadership. Thanks to her work, cases are properly and promptly classified and assigned.
- The Unit Citation Award: Assistant Commissioner Mary Ellen Flynn and the Alternative to Detention Program for crucial treatment and counseling to children when they first come to the attention of the criminal justice system; Assistant Commissioner Eden Weiss and Nova Ancora, the jobs program, for connecting with more than 110 businesses to provide employment for probationers; Assistant Commissioner Herman Metnetsky and the Manhattan Adult Investigations for finding a way to process thousands of cases in time to meet nearly impossible sentencing dates without sacrificing quality; and Commissioner Richard Roberts and Assistant Commissioner Robert Libertelli and the Short Term Alternative to Remand Treatment Program (SHORT) for combining electronic monitoring with intensive supervision to provide an alternative to incarceration.
- For Lifetime Achievement:Richard Dresel and Robert Losada for both giving generously with their time and talents over the years.
- For the Public Safety Assistance Award: Ralph Magnotti and the Department of Sanitation for providing a work site for probationers, and John Rakis and South Forty for working to provide individual counseling, training and meaningful employment.
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