A warm welcome for Brooklyn South’s new commanding officer

Days after being promoted to Commanding Officer of Patrol Borough Brooklyn South, Chief Owen Monaghan was greeted by a crowd of Brooklynites welcoming him with a reception at Maimonides Medical Center.

Maimonides threw the party in Monaghan’s honor, bringing in about 200 people, who all gathered with the intention of getting to know Monaghan better and congratulating him on his promotion.

“He has stepped into the job really quickly,” said Lieutenant James Woods, explaining that Monaghan’s been attending meetings such as the 72nd Precinct Community Council, looking to interact with community residents, elected officials, and get feedback from people about issues throughout Brooklyn.

“Everyone was there to greet the chief; it gave him a lot of extra energy to do what he needs to do to keep everyone safe,” he continued.

“He’s really concerned about crime and counterterrorism,” explained Woods, noting that Monaghan has, as a result, spoken with a lot of religious and civic leaders to try to come up with potential solutions.

Police Officer Harry Kirschner, Deputy Chief John Essig, Captain James Grant, Captain Richard DiBlasio, Felix Burgos, Chief Owen Monaghan, the Reverend Khader El-Yateem, Ilene Sacco, Habib Joudeh and Dr. Ahmad Jaber.

Monaghan comes to PBBS from the Transit Bureau, where he served as the executive officer working directly with Chief Joseph Fox, a former commanding officer of PBBS. He had been a member of the NYPD for over three decades.

Monaghan replaces Chief Thomas Chan, who got promoted to chief of the NYPD’s Community Affairs Unit at a ceremony that occurred at the Police Headquarters.

Two years ago, Chan became commanding officer of PBBS, succeeding Fox, who had led the 13-precinct division for 11 years.

Chan is said to be the first Asian-American to be made a three-star NYPD chief.

Chief Owen Monaghan with Monsignor David Cassato.

Among those in attendance at the Maimonides event were Maimonides top brass including MMC Executive Vice President Dominick Stanzione and Senior Vice President and Special Assistant to the President Douglas Jablon, as well as Federation of Italian American Organizations President Frank Naccarato, Auxiliary Chief Tony Christo, Community Board 10 District Manager Josephine Beckmann, 68th Precinct Community Council President Ilene Sacco, Monsignor David Cassato of St. Athanasius Church, St. Patrick’s School Director of Development Ann Strafaci, Dyker Heights Civic Association President Fran Vella-Marrone, Community Board 15 Chair Theresa Scavo, 84th Precinct Community Council President Leslie Lewis, Arab American Association of New York President Dr. Ahmad Jaber, and CB 10 members Habib Joudeh and the Reverend Khader El-Yateem.

Elected officials were on hand as well, including City Councilmembers Vincent Gentile and Mathieu Eugene, and Assemblymember Alec Brook-Krasny.

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