Captain Victoria Perry was welcomed as the new Commanding Officer of the 104th Precinct at JPCA’s April 25th meeting, taking over the reins from Deputy Inspector John Mastronardi. She is only the second female CO in the precinct’s history, with the first, Joellen Kunkel, having served more than 20 years ago. We wanted to learn more about Captain Perry’s fascinating journey to our precinct.

Captain Perry was born and raised in Jamaica, Queens where she continues to reside. After she graduated from high school, her mother insisted that she go to college and take every civil service exam possible. It was while she was working at Greenpoint Savings Bank and shortly after the birth of her son that she was called by the NYPD and entered into its academy 6 months later.

“I started as a cop in Manhattan Transit, where I was assigned to impact patrol until I was transferred to Transit District 20 in Queens. I was later moved to School Safety and then after being promoted to Sergeant, was assigned to Queens North. I spent the majority of my time at the 115th Precinct. I have also worked at the 110th Precinct and briefly at the 104th Precinct, which has given me a familiarity of the neighborhood.”

While at School Safety, Captain Perry was promoted to Lieutenant, and assigned to Transit District 32 in Brooklyn South, when she was later selected by a former supervisor to command the NYPD’s Personnel Bureau-Uniform Assignment Unit. Upon her promotion to Captain, she was assigned to Brooklyn North, first in the 94th Precinct (Greenpoint) and then the 79th Precinct (Bedford Stuyvesant) before becoming the Commanding Officer of the 104th Precinct.

One of Captain Perry’s favorite assignments was School Safety which she loved very much because she enjoys working with children. She is therefore happy to work with schools to organize presentations to address common issues the Principals have such as bullying or taking prescription drugs.

Captain Perry’s favorite thing about police work is being able to help people. She loves that every day is different and that she never knows what to expect.

The officers at her new post have been very welcoming and seem to love coming to work. She stated, “I feel that it better helps them serve their community when they love their job.”

Perry’s priorities

Regarding the noise in Forest Park:
“We are assisting the 102nd Precinct with joint operations. The park is actually in the 102nd Precinct while the affected homeowners reside in the 104th Precinct.”

Plan on graffiti prevention:
“The 104th Precinct does not have a graffiti prevention unit but the NYPD does have a vandalism unit so we will work with them to help keep the neighborhood clean.”

Massage parlors:
“One located at 58-94 Grand Avenue was closed down on May 8. We are being diligent and working with vice to close these types of places.”

Fireworks/Noise:
“As soon as you hear it call your NCO and they will work along with their corresponding sector car. This also goes for any night time activity at Juniper Valley Park.”

Illegal Trucks:
“Our traffic team is aware of illegal truck traffic and will be enforcing traffic laws in the area.”

New issues/scams:
“I recently got a call from a spoof # stating that if I didn’t pay, my Social Security number would be revoked! I want the community to be aware that the NYPD and Social Security would never call demanding money and make elderly people in the area aware of this since they are most likely to be a victim of these types of crimes.”