Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

City Honors 'Crime Fighter' Jack Maple with Richmond Hill Street Renaming

By Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska | September 21, 2015 3:30pm
 Maple created the CompStat methodology.
City Honors 'Crime Fighter' Jack Maple with Richmond Hill Street Renaming
View Full Caption

QUEENS — Jack Maple, the late NYPD’s crime–fighting expert, now has a Richmond Hill street named after him — on the same block where he grew up.

Maple who served as the Deputy Police Commissioner of Crime-Control Strategies when William Bratton first became Police Commissioner in New York City in 1994, is credited with creating the CompStat methodology, which maps crime, allowing the department to identify and track crime patterns. Crime rates in New York City have dropped dramatically since the tool has been implemented.

To Maple, “each of these dots on the map was a life, a life that could have been saved, a life that could have been spared from a rape or robbery,” said Bratton during the street co-naming ceremony Monday morning on the corner of 108th Street and Park Lane South, near Forest Park, attended by former Mayor David Dinkins. 

“I miss him every day, his personality and humor, toughness,” said Bratton, who called Maple a “crime fighter" and described the CompStat initiative as “instrumental in saving this city.”

“He was truly one of a kind,” Bratton noted. "A cop through and through."

Maple, the son of a postal worker and a nurse, was born in 1952. He began his career at the NYPD as a transit police officer. He later became an undercover detective patrolling Times Square before becoming a lieutenant in the Transit Police. Maple began tracking robberies in the subways by marking them on maps displayed on the wall in his office. He would identify crime patterns and send police officers to the most problematic spots.

When Bratton became police commissioner in Mayor Guiliani's administration, he hired Maple as Deputy Police Commissioner of Crime-Control Strategies.

“He is probably living proof that one person can make a difference,” said Councilman Eric Ulrich, who represents the area.

Ulrich called CompStat “truly a revolutionary idea which transformed the way the police department did policing, turned this city around, turned other cities around," he said.

"Other police departments are now using it across America," Ulrich noted. "What a profound impact this one person, this one kid from Richmond Hill had on this community, on this city, on this country.”

CompStat continues to be NYPD's essential strategy in the fight against crime. The department holds weekly meetings at the Jack Maple Room at Police Headquarters to discuss data and tactics.

Anna Marie Schadt, Maple’s sister, was visibly touched by the ceremony.

“It’s very humbling and it’s a beautiful tribute not only to the memory of my brother but my late mom and dad, because it's honoring their son," she said after the ceremony.

"It’s a celebration and a symbol for any child coming from any background, any situation — as long as they believe in themselves they can aspire to be anything," she said.

Maple died of cancer in 2001. His son Brendan, graduated from the Police Academy in July and was assigned to the 7th Precinct, Bratton said.