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Departing 112th Precinct Commander Oversaw 2 Years Without a Single Murder

By Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska | July 3, 2014 2:41pm | Updated on July 7, 2014 8:42am
 Capt. Judith Harrison is the new commanding officer of the Forest Hills precinct. Capt. Thomas Conforti took over the 109th Precinct in Flushing.
Capt. Judith Harrison is the new commanding officer of the Forest Hills precinct. Capt. Thomas Conforti took over the 109th Precinct in Flushing.
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DNAinfo/Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska/Twitter

QUEENS — After more than two years at the helm of the 112th Precinct, in which not a single murder was recorded, Commanding Officer Capt. Thomas Conforti is moving to the 109th Precinct in Flushing.

Capt. Judith Harrison, the former executive officer of the 115th Precinct in Jackson Heights, is set to replace him, police officials announced.

During Conforti's two-year tenure in Forest Hills and Rego Park, not a single murder was recorded in the area and overall crime fell by nearly 20 percent, Conforti said. He also helped lead the department's foray into social media, actively sharing information and engaging with those in the community through the Twitter handle @NYPD112PCT.

He said the move is "bittersweet."

"In the last two years I met many nice people in this neighborhood that we became partners with," he said.

His new assignment, he said, will be a greater challenge.

The 109th Precinct, which includes Flushing, College Point and Whitestone, is "much busier" and has about 150,000 residents, more than in the 112th Precinct, Conforti said.

According to statistics provided by the Department of City Planning, about 113,000 people lived in Forest Hills and Rego Park in 2010.

Conforti has become known for his use of social media to reach out to local residents.

He was one of the first commanding officers in the city to start tweeting and organized the first online precinct community council meeting via Spreecast.

He said his greatest achievement while serving in Forest Hills was “building up the partnership with the community.”

“When I first got here, people didn’t know what was going on crimewise,” he said. “But we tied everything together — the Forest Hills Crime Watch, the Internet, Twitter, Spreecast — ... to get the message about what’s going on in the community and what can we do to change it.

"It’s the most powerful thing that we can wish for.”

Conforti said he is familiar with the 109th Precinct, where he headed the detective squad for more than 4 years.

“My last day in the 109th Precinct was July 2, 2010,” he said. “Now, exactly four years to the date, I’m going back there.”

“It's GREAT to be Home!,” he tweeted on Thursday morning from the 109th Precinct Twitter account.

According to information provided by the 112th Precinct Community Council, Harrison began her career at the NYPD in April 1997, when she was assigned to patrol duty in the 103rd Precinct.

"Hello #112Pct! I'm happy to be here! #firstday meeting and greeting," Harrison wrote on the 112th Precinct Twitter account Thursday afternoon.

Harrison, who holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from Fairleigh Dickinson University, was promoted to captain in January 2013.

Throughout her career, she served in the 104th, the 109th and the 115th precincts, as well as at the Police Academy, Patrol Borough Queens North and Community Affairs Bureau.