Winter Dinner Meeting 2017

Location: The Princeton Club Tuesday March 07, 2017 Guest of Honor: Ramon F. Garcia, Assistant Commissioner, School Safety, N.Y.P.D. Assistant Commissioner, Ramon F. Garcia, has been an employee of New York City’s School Safety Division for over 32 years and has oversight for over 5,000 dedicated School Safety Agents and over 200 police officers who provide safety and security of over 1.2 million students in over 1,800 NYC Public Schools. He began his career as a School Safety Officer prior to the 1998 merge of the School Safety Division (SSD) with the N.Y.C., Department of Education. Assistant Commissioner Garcia served in key positions: Chief of Support Services, Chief of Patrol, and Chief of Security Operations.

When the responsibility was transferred to the NYPD in December of 1998, Assistant Commissioner Garcia served as the NYPD Adjutant to the School Safety Division and was instrumental in the restructuring of the School Safety Division organizational structure creating a more efficient uniformed and civilian management team. A team that successfully reduced crime in and around schools and coordinated the safe evacuation of students, teachers and staff in the schools surrounding “Ground Zero” on September 11, 2001. Assistant Commissioner Garcia was later promoted in 2001 to Director of Patrol Operations and was instrumental in significantly decreasing total and violent crimes, weapons possession and disorder which resulted in a safer environment for 1.2 million New York City students, over 300,000 teachers and staff members in over 1800 school sites citywide.

Assistant Commissioner Garcia is a firm believer that if crime goes down, academic scores go up. He credits a lot of the success to the partnerships created with various community based organizations and parent groups. These collaborative partnerships resulted in the School Safety Division being awarded an N.Y.P.D. Unit Citation in 2009 by NYPD, Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, and in 2013 by NYPD, Commissioner William J. Bratton for achieving a significant decrease in total crime, decrease in violent crimes, while reducing the overall number of arrests and criminal summonses on students in NYC schools.

In March 2014, Assistant Commissioner Garcia was selected as a Team Leader on Police Commissioner Bratton’s NYPD Reengineering Team. This team was successful in conducting a comprehensive examination of the NYPD which had a significant impact on enforcement, morale, community relations, and how the NYPD collaborates inside and outside of the Department.

Assistant Commissioner Garcia is a member of the Mayor’s School Climate and Safety Leadership Team which is advising Mayor Bill De Blasio on reforms that continue positive trend of declining crime, arrest and suspension rates in and around NYC Schools.

Assistant Commissioner Garcia has real affinity for School Safety and Police Officers who live and work in the community that they serve and protect. A dedicated group of public servants that devote much of their own time to mentoring students through the Explorers Program, coaching sports teams, and sponsoring community events; officers who foster a great rapport and trusted relationship with students who view them as role models.

Assistant Commissioner Garcia is an executive under the NYPD Community Affairs Bureau that strongly believes in NYPD and Community working together to enhance the quality of life for all New Yorkers.

Assistant Commissioner Garcia is a resident of the Bronx, New York City and is a product of the New York public school system; a public education system which is rich in culture and diversity. He works collaboratively with the N.Y.P.D., DOE and community advocates towards putting “Children First”. Assistant Commissioner Garcia displays a passion and firm commitment to provide a safe school environment where principals can lead, teachers can teach, and students can learn, dream, achieve and accomplish their dreams.

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