He’s on the highway to a swell job.
Deputy Inspector Michael Ameri made Park Slope’s 78th police precinct the most high-profile law enforcement advocate of the mayor’s Vision Zero push to reduce traffic fatalities to zero by 2024, and now he is headed for the top road-cop position in the NYPD.
“As my final day approaches, I leave the 78th Precinct with a heavy heart,” Ameri wrote on Twitter. “It is a bittersweet transfer for me!”
A local pol hailed his ascendancy, saying Ameri is a great fit for head of the Highway Patrol Unit.
“On a personal level, Mike has been a great friend and partner,” said Councilman Brad Lander (D–Park Slope) in a statement. “He has our community’s deep thanks, and best wishes for good luck in his new position.”
Since January, street safety activists have grown to be big-time Ameri boosters as he has rolled out a weekly succession of initiatives to rein in reckless drivers, including an undercover sting operation to bust motorists failing to yield to pedestrians, and crackdowns on parking in bike lanes and unlicensed dollar vans. Ameri also created a meeting devoted solely to traffic issues to supplement his monthly community council meetings.
In his new post, Ameri will oversee policing of the city’s highways, traffic safety, and the Collision Investigation Squad, which underwent reforms last year after widespread criticism for refusing to investigate crashes unless or until someone died.
One activist group cheered the promotion without letting up its pressure to reform the way the Police Department handles crashes.
“As the new leader of the city’s Collision Investigation Squad, Inspector Ameri has now gained a singular opportunity to lead the NYPD into a new era of proactive street safety engagement,” the group Right of Way wrote on its website in a missive calling for all collision investigation reports be made public.
The 78th Precinct did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
