Dedicated Police Liaison is Retiring

By COLlive reporter

Detective Vinnie Martinos, the longtime community affairs officer of the 71st Precinct of the New York Police Department, is retiring at the end of August.

The 71st Precinct is located in central Brooklyn and contains the southern portion of Crown Heights, Wingate, and Prospect Lefferts Gardens.

Martinos has been serving these communities for the last “28 years and 2 months,” he told COLlive.com on Tuesday, adding that he’s been here for a “long time…”

Martinos, a known fixture in the Crown Heights neighborhood, has been a witness to and took an active role in shaping happenings and occurrences in the community.

In addition to crime prevention and responding to the local waves of anti-Semitic attacks, Martinos has been working hand-in-hand with community organizations and institutions to plan and hold major public events and communal affairs.

Among the annual events he helped coordinate for the safety of its participants were the Tishrei holidays, Kinus Hashluchim and Kinus Hashluchos, the many Shabbatons, An Hour with the Rebbe gatherings outside 770 Eastern Parkway, and the Great Parade on Lag BaOmer.

When he was promoted in 2019, community activist Devorah Halberstam said: “Detective Martinos is so worthy of this. He has been an integral part of the Crown Heights neighborhood for 28 years. His commitment and dedication to the community have been outstanding and a true example to all new officers of what a real cop is.”

Martinos will be retiring on August 31, 2020. “I’m not going nowhere,” he commented on Tuesday, noting that he will remain to live in New York City.

He said that Officer Mike Baratta who has been working with him as liaison will be taking over his role. “I have been training Mike Baratta to take over. I have full confidence in him,” he said.