Central Park Pct Gets New Commanding Officer

Turnaround is fair play.

The Central Park precinct, which saw its commanding officer head East to return to the 19th Precinct on the Upper East Side, is getting a new commanding officer: Captain Anthony Lavino, sources said.

Lavino was most recently the executive officer officer of the 19th, the number two spot. He served as the acting commanding officer from August 2022 until last month deputy inspector William J. “Bill” Gallagher took over the permanent commanding officer.

The NYPD has not officially confirmed the news, but sources said it happened last week.

The Central Park Pct. covers 840 acres in the park and is generally considered a low crime pct. Its last high profile case was an assault of a woman on the Central Park reservoir on April 6th. The NYPD had released an artist sketch of the assailant who had struck up a conversation with a woman jogging on the reservoir and then turned suddenly violent and bashed her head against a tree several times before running off. Police said they collared a suspect on April 22, identified as 24 year old Juan Garcia, from Hoe Avenue in the Bronx. He is facing assault charges, an NYPD spokesman said.

Lavino, 47, graduated from SUNY Binghamton with a computer science degree and joined the NYPD in 2004, two years after he had taken the entrance exam. He’s worked in the Bronx housing and at the World Trade Center post as a sergeant. After his promotion to lieutenant he was transferred to the Upper West Side’s 20th Pct. and then the 23rd pct. in East Harlem before being transferred to the 19th last year as its acting commanding officer.