112th Precinct Stepping Up Reckless Driving Enforcement

Just 24 hours after a woman was crossing Yellowstone Boulevard, the new executive officer at theannounced that police in the area will be stepping up traffic enforcement of all kinds.

Captain Ralph Forgione, executive officer of the 112th Precinct, said at the Precinct Community Council meeting Wednesday night that, "people are going to avoid the 112 when it comes to reckless driving."

Forgione, along with Precinct Commander said enforcement will be increased for speeding, distracted driving, seat belts and driving while intoxicated. It's all part of a push to help residents and commuters in the area avoid traffic accidents during the busy shopping season in some of the more populated areas in of the patrol.

Forgione said that he and a group of officers recently set up locations along Queens Boulevard to catch drivers exceeding the speed limit.

"It's been a while since we've issued speeding [tickets] there, so we sent a message that we're still here and it's not on the backburner," Forgione said. "You might get pulled over by my people, we're going to be out there all next week, for the rest of this month and maybe into next month."

When it comes to drivers talking on cell phones, he said that the numbers of drivers ticketed for talking on the phone behind the wheel have "increased dramatically" over the last 10 days.

Tamola also said officers would be setting up sobriety checkpoints in the area during the holiday season to catch drivers who got behind the wheel after having too much to drink.

"We're going to be out there doing checkpoints, we're going to have guys out there on overtime doing it," Tamola said. "We 're going to have entire platoons out there doing it."

Tamola even boasted that one of his officers has the current record for most DWI arrests in the city.

"He's very good at his job," Precinct Council President Heidi Chain added.