Precinct commander is promoted

It was a red letter day for one of the neighborhood’s men in blue.

Richard DiBlasio, the commander of the 68^th Precinct, was promoted to deputy inspector in a ceremony at One Police Plaza held the morning of Thursday, August 29.

DiBlasio came to the precinct – which encompasses Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and Fort Hamilton — as a captain in June, 2011, replacing Deputy Inspector Eric Rodriguez, who had been transferred to the 70^th Precinct in Flatbush and Midwood.

“It was a pleasant surprise,” DiBlasio told this paper. “This is a great place to work, a great community to work for.

“It’s not just my promotion,” he added. “It’s in recognition of the hard work that the men and women of the 68^th Precinct do on a daily basis, and a testament to the relationship between the police officers of the 68^th Precinct and the community.”

Ilene Sacco, the president of the 68^th Precinct Community Council congratulated DiBlasio, noting, “I’m really happy for him and his family and I know he’ll continue to be a great leader in this command and wherever he goes in the future.”

DiBlasio has presided over a decrease in crime. This year, so far, crime is down in the 68^th Precinct, 2.34 percent, according to the NYPD’s crime-tracking system, CompStat. Citywide, year to date, crime is down 1.78 percent. In 2012, crime went down 2.2 percent in the 68^th Precinct; citywide, it increased 3.32 percent citywide, according to CompStat.

Before coming to the 68^th Precinct, DiBlasio had been assigned to Patrol Borough Brooklyn South, where he was a captain in the Investigations Unit. DiBlasio had also been executive officer at the 61^st Precinct in Sheepshead Bay, a traffic lieutenant in the NYPD’s traffic control division, a lieutenant at the 84^th Precinct in Brooklyn Heights and a sergeant at the 63^rd Precinct in Mill Basin and Marine Park.