71st Precinct Getting New Commanding Officer
A number of changes and transfer orders have come in the NYPD and among those changes will see the 71st Precinct getting a new commanding officer. Captain Norman Grandstaff, formerly the commander of the 69th Precinct will take the helm in place of Inspector George Fitzgibbon.
Sources told CrownHeights.info at midnight Monday night Captain Norman Grandstaff will take command of the 71st Precinct. Meanwhile, Inspector George Fitzgibbon will take charge of the Narcotics and Gang Unit in Brooklyn South.
“I may be moving out of the 71, but I am still close by and am just a phone call away” inspector Fitzgibbon told CrownHeights.info, adding “this was one of my best commands and some of my most enjoyable years in the NYPD.”
Captain Grandstaff, like Inspector Fitzgibbon, comes from the 69th Precinct, which is in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn, where he served as the commanding officer.
Speaking to the local Canarsie Courior in 2013 he said “I want to be everywhere I can be, I want to meet with all of the key leaders in Canarsie and try to be at every event. It’s important I make myself visible so residents know I’m open to them and that I’m available to tend to their concerns.”
No stranger to diverse communities, Captain Grandstaff served four and a half years in the 70th Precinct which encompasses the Flatbush and Midwood sections of Brooklyn. “I was there for four and a half years and saw so many different cultures and backgrounds – but everyone wants the same thing – to feel safe in their community and to know that the police are looking out for them,” he said.
Captain Grandstaff also served as in the 75th Precinct and has been with the NYPD for over 17 years. In 2013 he was awarded the Police Combat Cross, which is the NYPD second highest award, for bravery in the line of duty.
While serving as a police officer in Patrol Borough Brooklyn North, then police officer Grandstaff pursued on foot, struggled with and apprehended a perpetrator who had fired upon police with a 9-millimeter high-capacity machine gun. Then-Officer Grandstaff and two other responding officers also recovered the gun. It was December 25th, 2002 in the 79th Precinct.
