Thursday, May 16, 2002
Det. Owen Hughes moving from the 13th Precinct to the Cabrini Med Center
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
To the T&V neighborhood activists, the name of Owen Hughes has been synonymous with the Police Department, or at least the 13th Precinct. Whenever a question came up or a problem rose its ugly head, "call Owen" was the immediate response. Detective Hughes held the job of the 13th Precinct’s Community Affairs Officer for 17 years, and this article is in the past tense because he is retiring on May 26th. Unofficially, he is already gone, using his accumulated vacation, to take on the office of Director of Public Security/Community Affairs at the Cabrini Medical Center.
My paths crossed with Owen’s quite frequently, first in 1986, with the founding of the Committee to Save the Police Academy. Although the then Commissioner Ben Ward hated the idea - he wanted a new state-of-the-art training operation in the Bronx, and we had at least one fierce session in front of the City Council - Owen, in his function as the Community Officer felt obligated to cooperate with the community effort, and did not block it in any way. A CSPA story - an elderly Stuytown resident complained to Owen about the proposed move, and when asked for the reason, responded: "Can you imagine how long it will take the police to respond to my calls from the Bronx?" It is the 20th Street cocoon of the PA, 13th Precinct and Midtown South command that makes people see the block as one unit.
Owen has always been responsive to questions, and accessible. If you did not reach him at 477-7427, you could find him at the next public event - a May Day demonstration, or an Edward Said speech on Union Square, a political rally or a question-and-answer session at the Community Board. More than once he was the peace-maker, a role that he handled quite naturally. In 1994, when Commissioner Bill Bratton came to explain quality-of-life crimes in a public meeting at the Brotherhood Synagogue and some squatters started demonstrating in the back of the room, he kept them and the objecting community members apart without any fuss or feathers.
Owen was the one who brought together the PD hierarchy and the community. You’d find him cruising with the new precinct commanders, in car or on foot, introducing the newcomers to the locals . With the current CO, Deputy Inspector Patrick McCarthy he came on bicycle, a good way to get around, except that you do 25 miles to qualify, not so easy. He brought the COs to local events and fund-raisers, they would drop in at Concerned Citizens Speak, the churches and synagogues.
The 13th must be some form of police incubator, with command changing on a regular basis. When I brought this remembrance to Owen’s attention, he obligingly supplied a list of names from his memory bank, chronologically. He started with Deputy Inspector James McCabe, in 1983. The then Sgt. Michael Fox was like a father to the recruit, and was responsible for his promotion to detective in 1990 (often seen at local functions with Owen, Fox retired on April 17, just before his 63rd birthday, as a two-star Chief and Commanding Officer of Patrol, Manhattan South). Capt Elson Gelfand retired as a Chief, Capt. Clarence Pinsent retired as a Deputy Inspector, Capt John Healy, an Inspector, Capt George Brown, currently a three-star Chief, Capts Richard Seta and Michael Darby retired as Inspectors, Capt Steven Anger is now Inspector in charge of Midtown North Precinct, Capt John Healy retired as Dep Inspector. The current CO and bicycle advocate, Dep. Inspector Patrick McCarthy, started as as a Captain in the 13th. Why the recital of names? Because at some point in time these COs were important in keeping us well, and should be remembered, as we remember our heroes, Officers Moira Smith and Robert Fazio and ESU Officer Brian McDonnell, who lost their young lives at WTC.
Owen did work, once, with the famed late Dep. Commissioner Jack Maple, the inventor of the Compustat system that forced each CO to keep maps of crime frequencies by block and building, and allocate resources accordingly, meeting the Commissioner weekly, to evaluate the results. Maple was at that time involved in the takeover of the then drug-infested Hotel Kenmore from its unsavory landlord, Tron.
There was also fun. When the PD embarked on a campaign of weight loss for officers, Owen became the poster boy, with a fantastic 40 lb weight drop. His before and after pictures and story appeared on the front page of the NYT Met section. It was amazing, since he never looked like he had that kind of poundage to lose. Alas, some of it has come back. Owen has also been the subject of some rhymed lines in these columns. One remembers "if your sin is drugs or booze, you better watch out for Owen Hughes" (anon.).
Anyway, we are lucky, he is not going away from the neighborhood. His knowledge of the precinct territory and community is prodigious, and it will not be lost to the community in his new task. If any local poets wan to try rhyming some more quality verse with Owen’s name, in his honor, this column will provide the space.
Roman Holiday. A friend, just back from Rome, Italy, reports the theft of a wallet, with suggestions for summer visitors. After a dinner on Piazza Narvona (ah, memories), he boarded a bus to return to the hotel at Repubblica, with a crowd, when two bystanders pushed him, left side and back. He instinctively went for his wallet, in the back pocket of his jeans, and feeling that it was gone, grabbed the left-side accoster, who loudly proclaimed his innocence. Not only that, he voluntarily took off all his clothes to be examined, totally naked (not a pretty sight, with his skivvies at his ankles).
My buddy got to the hotel and, with the help of the front desk, reported the loss to Visa and American Express, cancelling the cards. Problem - his wife’s card numbers were the same as his, useful in reporting the loss but bad when you are left funds-less. Next day they went to American Express, at the bottom of the Spanish Steps (egad, these memories hurt), to get some walk-around cash, and it took forever. The cards they cancelled were AE Access cards issued by Shoprite, and involved calling AE Hawaii, before they received $300. The lesson: leave all extraneous cards behind; have at least one non-duplicated account with your dearest; photocopy your cards and have the list in another pocket, or suitcase. Remember to keep your stuff in a card-case, in one front pocket, with the money (no clip) in the other. Snatchable ladies’ purses should contain only cosmetics - that’s advice from a Sicilian Holiday.
Wally Dobelis had a problem in remembering while reporting about Marvin Mondlin’s book of the antiquarians of Fourth Avenue. The Schulte’s store is now a JanovicPlaza paint store, and Sid Solomon’s emporium was the Pageant, not the Paragon Book Store.
To the T&V neighborhood activists, the name of Owen Hughes has been synonymous with the Police Department, or at least the 13th Precinct. Whenever a question came up or a problem rose its ugly head, "call Owen" was the immediate response. Detective Hughes held the job of the 13th Precinct’s Community Affairs Officer for 17 years, and this article is in the past tense because he is retiring on May 26th. Unofficially, he is already gone, using his accumulated vacation, to take on the office of Director of Public Security/Community Affairs at the Cabrini Medical Center.
My paths crossed with Owen’s quite frequently, first in 1986, with the founding of the Committee to Save the Police Academy. Although the then Commissioner Ben Ward hated the idea - he wanted a new state-of-the-art training operation in the Bronx, and we had at least one fierce session in front of the City Council - Owen, in his function as the Community Officer felt obligated to cooperate with the community effort, and did not block it in any way. A CSPA story - an elderly Stuytown resident complained to Owen about the proposed move, and when asked for the reason, responded: "Can you imagine how long it will take the police to respond to my calls from the Bronx?" It is the 20th Street cocoon of the PA, 13th Precinct and Midtown South command that makes people see the block as one unit.
Owen has always been responsive to questions, and accessible. If you did not reach him at 477-7427, you could find him at the next public event - a May Day demonstration, or an Edward Said speech on Union Square, a political rally or a question-and-answer session at the Community Board. More than once he was the peace-maker, a role that he handled quite naturally. In 1994, when Commissioner Bill Bratton came to explain quality-of-life crimes in a public meeting at the Brotherhood Synagogue and some squatters started demonstrating in the back of the room, he kept them and the objecting community members apart without any fuss or feathers.
Owen was the one who brought together the PD hierarchy and the community. You’d find him cruising with the new precinct commanders, in car or on foot, introducing the newcomers to the locals . With the current CO, Deputy Inspector Patrick McCarthy he came on bicycle, a good way to get around, except that you do 25 miles to qualify, not so easy. He brought the COs to local events and fund-raisers, they would drop in at Concerned Citizens Speak, the churches and synagogues.
The 13th must be some form of police incubator, with command changing on a regular basis. When I brought this remembrance to Owen’s attention, he obligingly supplied a list of names from his memory bank, chronologically. He started with Deputy Inspector James McCabe, in 1983. The then Sgt. Michael Fox was like a father to the recruit, and was responsible for his promotion to detective in 1990 (often seen at local functions with Owen, Fox retired on April 17, just before his 63rd birthday, as a two-star Chief and Commanding Officer of Patrol, Manhattan South). Capt Elson Gelfand retired as a Chief, Capt. Clarence Pinsent retired as a Deputy Inspector, Capt John Healy, an Inspector, Capt George Brown, currently a three-star Chief, Capts Richard Seta and Michael Darby retired as Inspectors, Capt Steven Anger is now Inspector in charge of Midtown North Precinct, Capt John Healy retired as Dep Inspector. The current CO and bicycle advocate, Dep. Inspector Patrick McCarthy, started as as a Captain in the 13th. Why the recital of names? Because at some point in time these COs were important in keeping us well, and should be remembered, as we remember our heroes, Officers Moira Smith and Robert Fazio and ESU Officer Brian McDonnell, who lost their young lives at WTC.
Owen did work, once, with the famed late Dep. Commissioner Jack Maple, the inventor of the Compustat system that forced each CO to keep maps of crime frequencies by block and building, and allocate resources accordingly, meeting the Commissioner weekly, to evaluate the results. Maple was at that time involved in the takeover of the then drug-infested Hotel Kenmore from its unsavory landlord, Tron.
There was also fun. When the PD embarked on a campaign of weight loss for officers, Owen became the poster boy, with a fantastic 40 lb weight drop. His before and after pictures and story appeared on the front page of the NYT Met section. It was amazing, since he never looked like he had that kind of poundage to lose. Alas, some of it has come back. Owen has also been the subject of some rhymed lines in these columns. One remembers "if your sin is drugs or booze, you better watch out for Owen Hughes" (anon.).
Anyway, we are lucky, he is not going away from the neighborhood. His knowledge of the precinct territory and community is prodigious, and it will not be lost to the community in his new task. If any local poets wan to try rhyming some more quality verse with Owen’s name, in his honor, this column will provide the space.
Roman Holiday. A friend, just back from Rome, Italy, reports the theft of a wallet, with suggestions for summer visitors. After a dinner on Piazza Narvona (ah, memories), he boarded a bus to return to the hotel at Repubblica, with a crowd, when two bystanders pushed him, left side and back. He instinctively went for his wallet, in the back pocket of his jeans, and feeling that it was gone, grabbed the left-side accoster, who loudly proclaimed his innocence. Not only that, he voluntarily took off all his clothes to be examined, totally naked (not a pretty sight, with his skivvies at his ankles).
My buddy got to the hotel and, with the help of the front desk, reported the loss to Visa and American Express, cancelling the cards. Problem - his wife’s card numbers were the same as his, useful in reporting the loss but bad when you are left funds-less. Next day they went to American Express, at the bottom of the Spanish Steps (egad, these memories hurt), to get some walk-around cash, and it took forever. The cards they cancelled were AE Access cards issued by Shoprite, and involved calling AE Hawaii, before they received $300. The lesson: leave all extraneous cards behind; have at least one non-duplicated account with your dearest; photocopy your cards and have the list in another pocket, or suitcase. Remember to keep your stuff in a card-case, in one front pocket, with the money (no clip) in the other. Snatchable ladies’ purses should contain only cosmetics - that’s advice from a Sicilian Holiday.
Wally Dobelis had a problem in remembering while reporting about Marvin Mondlin’s book of the antiquarians of Fourth Avenue. The Schulte’s store is now a JanovicPlaza paint store, and Sid Solomon’s emporium was the Pageant, not the Paragon Book Store.
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 2:42 PM 
