By Albert Amateau
The Lower East Side Business Improvement District honored three police officers at the BID’s inaugural Seventh Precinct Cops of the Year Luncheon and Awards Ceremony on Tues., April 5.
Officer Kerion Mathison of the precinct’s Cabaret Unit, Officer Alexander Wong of the precinct Highway Safety Office and Officer Michael Wong, assistant field intelligence officer, were named at the lunchtime event at Tammany Hall restaurant, 152 Orchard St.
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. gave out the awards at the precinct’s first-ever Cops of the Year event, which was attended by City Councilmember Margaret Chin and representatives for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and state Senator Daniel Squadron.
Mathison, a five-year veteran of the N.Y.P.D., has been assigned to the Seventh Precinct since July 2006. She has made 137 arrests and has assisted in more than 300 others during her tenure at the Pitt St. station. The Cabaret Unit in which she works ensures that all establishments with alcohol licenses, in a precinct with a great number of bars and clubs, operate in a way that does not threaten the health and safety of patrons and neighborhood residents.
Alexander Wong has been an N.Y.P.D. officer for the past nine years and was assigned to the Lower East Side precinct’s Highway Safety Office in 2007, where he analyzes motor vehicle accident reports to develop enforcement and accident prevention strategies. Alexander Wong, no relation to his fellow honoree Michael Wong, supervises 40 school crossing guards and serves as the precinct’s liaison with the Department of Transportation. The precinct leads Manhattan in D.W.I. arrests.
Michael Wong, an N.Y.P.D. officer for seven years, has been the precinct’s assistant field intelligence officer since 2007, providing the Seventh’s officers with up-to-date intelligence. He maintains databases regarding persons of interest and people stopped and arrested by the precinct’s officers.
At the conclusion of the presentations, Jake and Allen Dell of Katz’s Delicatessen presented each award-winner with a salami.
Bob Zuckerman, executive director of the BID, welcomed neighbors and police, saying the event honored the people the BID works with every day and who help keep the neighborhood safe. Zuckerman, former director of the Greenwich Village-Chelsea Chamber of Commerce, was marking his first anniversary as director of the BID.
