Two 34th Precinct Police Officers Win Sloan Public Service Award

Pictured: Det. Thomas Troppmann, left, and Officer Edwin Rodriguez of the 34th Precinct. Photo credit: Sarah Shatz

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS-INWOOD, NY — Two police officers from the 34th Precinct were named winners of the 2016 Sloan Public Service Award by the Fund for the City of New York. The award is given annually to six city employees "whose work performance and commitment to the public transcend not merely the ordinary but the extraordinary — day after day and year after year," said the FCNY website.

In their roles as neighborhood coordination officers, Det. Thomas W. Troppmann and Officer Edwin Rodriguez help build trust between the 34th Precinct and residents of Washington Heights and Inwood. The two were awarded the Sloan Public Service Award as a pair.

"It was one of the proudest moments of my life," Troppmann, a resident of Kingsbridge, told the Bronx Times. Troppmann dedicated the $10,000 prize that comes with the award to the Michael J. Buczek Little League program, which honors a fallen Washington Heights officer.

Troppmann, an NYPD veteran of 28 years, and Rodriguez, a veteran of eight years, are part of an NYPD initiative to improve neighborhood-based policing in the city, according to the FCNY. The neighborhood coordination program was launched in May 2015, Troppman told the Bronx Times.

"Neighborhood-Based Policing restores the patrol officer to the role of problem-solver and community guardian who knows the neighborhood and works closely with residents and businesses," said the FCNY website.

Winners of the Sloan Public Service Award embody six different qualities, according to the FCNY:

• Extraordinary service delivered with ingenuity, energy and compassion.
• Commitment beyond the call of duty.
• Responsiveness to public needs, developing more effective methods of service delivery.
• Outstanding and reliable performance, both under the pressures of daily routine and in times of crisis.
• Willingness to take risks, if that is what is needed to improve services or correct abuses or inequities.
• Ability to adapt to change and provide a continued high standard of service to the public.
• Dedication to upholding public interest amidst competing interests, pressures and demands.

The NYPD did not immediately return a message for comment.