Juniper Park Civic Association President Bob Holden, left, presents Lt. James Lombardi, previously of the 104th Precinct, with an award for his service to the area at a JPCA meeting in June. Anna Gustafson/The Forum Newsgroup
After committing a procedural infraction, Lt. James Lombardi was transferred out of the 104th Precinct recently, yet some civic leaders fear the area residents he no longer serves might have been the ones punished.
Lombardi, who was a lieutenant for the precinct that covers the neighborhoods of Ridgewood, Glendale, Middle Village and Maspeth, for four years, was notified on May 17 that he was transferred to a precinct in Harlem because of a transgression, a police spokesperson acknowledged. The spokesperson declined to elaborate on what the infraction actually was, yet it reportedly was relatively minor.
“It wasn’t a crime what Lombardi did; it was just a minor mistake that happens when you’re trying to do the job to the absolute fullest,” said a police officer from the 104th who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about the matter publicly.
Bob Holden, president of the Juniper Park Civic Association, expressed concern that the community will miss the work of Lombardi, who he said “always went above and beyond.”
At his civic’s most recent meeting, Holden said he had “never met an officer so committed to a neighborhood as Lt. Lombardi has been for the past four years.”
Lombardi, who attended the same meeting, said it was “very disheartening for me to have to leave here after all this time.
“If I could come back, I’d come back tomorrow,” the lieutenant continued.
Lombardi’s unit led the city in graffiti arrests three years in a row, according to police statistics, and his Street Narcotics Enforcement Unit were second and third in arrests in the city the last two years, respectively.
“Lombardi was special,” Holden said. “He would actually call you and say if there was an issue by you. He’d warn you of a situation that was going on, and we never got that from other special operations lieutenants. It’s unusual when cops can make you feel better about living in your neighborhood. With Lombardi, we certainly felt that way.”
Holden said there was a chance quality of life issues and strong communication could be sustained or improved without Lombardi, but also feared the worst.
“Or it could be worse,” Holden said. “Guys like Lombardi are few and far between. He had such a passion for his job and you never heard a bad thing.”
Community Board 5 chairperson Vincent Arcuri, Jr., applauded Lombardi for being “civic-minded,” and very approachable during meetings.
“It was a pleasure,” Arcuri said. “All you had to do was let him know what may be a problem and he looked into it and took care of it right away.”
When asked about Lombardi’s transfer, Arcuri said “uniformly, everyone was surprised by it,” because he “did a very good job and was a very aggressive police officer.”
Both Arcuri and Holden mentioned former 104th Capt. Michael Cody, who became the precinct’s Commanding Officer in 2011, as someone who helped improve the community, along with Lombardi, in regards to graffiti, narcotics and domestic violence issues.
Yet Cody was promoted to the rank of Deputy Inspector last August and was transferred to the 115th Precinct in Jackson Heights in January.
Holden referred to losing both officers in a year’s span as a “kick in the stomach” for the area.
“I’ve been dealing with the precinct for 30 years, and I’ve seen COs come and go, and I’ve seen cops come and go, and I can tell you that we’ve never had a team like this of Batman and Robin, like we had with Cody and Lombardi,” Holden said.
By Will Sammon
