The man who once was an NYPD cadet in the 105th Precinct last week returned to take command.
“It was like coming home,” said Capt. Igor Pinkhasov, who was transferred last week. He had been serving as commanding officer of Transit District 11, headquartered in the Bronx at Yankee Stadium.
Pinkhasov replaces Inspector Neteis Gilbert, who transferred to the NYPD’s Detective Bureau. Gilbert was appointed as commander of the 105th in June 2018.
Pinkhasov’s career has taken him on a few stops in Queens, and his personal story is fitting for a precinct commander in The World’s Borough.
He emigrated to the United States from Russia in 1996. After serving as a cadet in both the 105th, based in Queens Village, and the 112th Precinct in Forest Hills, his first posting upon graduation from the Police Academy was at the 104th Precinct in Ridgewood.
In 1996 he was transferred to the old Organized Crime Control Bureau. He made detective in 2010 and that same year transferred to the 110th Precinct in Corona.
He was promoted to lieutenant and transferred to the 113th Precinct in South Jamaica in 2014. From there it was on to Brooklyn and the 76th Precinct, followed by a term as commander of the detective squad in the 67th.
Since being promoted to captain he has commanded detectives on the south zone of the Bronx and the Bronx Gang Squad before taking over TD 11 in 2019.
His goal in the 105th is a straigtforward one.
“I’m looking forward to making a better community,” he said. “I know how hard things can be. I know that hard work pays off. I want to look at the big picture. I want to reach out to people in the community and decide how I can help them.”
Pinkhasov is not deterred by actual or supposed antipolice sentiment.
“Most people love us,” he said. “Most people in the 105th Precinct are hardworking people. Many of them work for the NYPD or have family on the NYPD or know people who work for the NYPD. And most people will never have an encounter with police. But when they do, I want it to be a good one.”
The 105th Precinct covers much of Eastern Queens, sitting on the Nassau County border from the Grand Central Parkway in the north to John F. Kennedy International Airport in the south.
It has more than 350 road miles in all, including parts of Queens Village, Cambria Heights, Laurelton, Rosedale, Springfield Gardens, Bellerose, Glen Oaks, New Hyde Park and Floral Park.
Given its size, it was scheduled to be split with an undetermined portion becoming a new 116th Precinct near the site of the existing 105th satellite station just north of the Long island Rail Road’s Rosedale Station.
While residents of Southeast Queens have been clamoring for a new precinct for 40 years, the capital funding for the multiyear $92 million project was removed from this year’s capital budget.
credit to qchron.com
