All it took was a set of eagle eyes and a glance.
That, in a nutshell, is how three 78th Precinct cops managed to apprehend a car break-in artist poised to turn Park Slope into his happy hunting grounds.
Relaying the story, Inspector John Argenziano, the commanding officer of the 78th Precinct, told community council members that Police Officers Michael Furia, Talat Awad and Steven Nakao were on patrol back on February 5 when they spotted a man peering into cars near the corner of 10th Street and Fourth Avenue.
“They immediately knew that something suspicious was going on,” Argenziano said. “So they began following him.”
The officers trailed the would-be thief along Fourth Avenue. All the while, the man would peer into car windows, but do nothing.
Going above and beyond the call of duty, the officers followed the man into the adjoining precinct, when, finally, the thief so something he watned to steal and broke into a car.
Officers Furia, Awad and Nakao, were right there to grab him, said Argenziano as he named the three officers Cops of the Month for February.
Officers Furia, Awad and Nakao are all members of the precinct’s anti crime team. Instead of given a few streets to patrol, they’re responsible for combatting growing crime trends in the community.
“We count all crimes, even petit crimes,” Argenziano said. “This was a great collar because we won’t know how many cars this guy would have broken into before he got caught.”
