Inspector Jeffrey D. Schiff entered the New York City Police Academy on July 18th, 1996 at the advanced age of 29 after graduating from Polytechnic University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering. It was the first police academy that required college credits in order to join the police force and after 8 and half months of intensive police instruction, he was awarded the third highest academic award out of a class size of 1492 eager recruits.
From there he was assigned to the 103rd Precinct in South Jamaica Queens where he honed his skills dealing with the crack epidemic that started in the 80s. Shortly thereafter, upon its inception, he joined the prestigious Queens South Tracer Unit, which was instrumental in crime reduction in that area. In 1999 he was seriously injured in a fierce struggle that nearly ended his life between then, Police Officer Schiff and a perpetrator, in which the perpetrator was attempting to assault another Police Officer, thankfully, the perpetrator was subdued and brought to justice.
After healing, he returned to active duty and was soon promoted to Sergeant in 2001 after five years as a Police Officer. He was then transferred to the 108th Precinct in Queens North where he began to learn the subtle ways of police management.
In 2004 after three years as a Sergeant he was promoted to Lieutenant and transferred to the 1st Precinct in the Borough of Manhattan South. He was quickly assigned as the 2nd Platoon Commander where he began to use his position to influence the officers into performing more efficiently and more professionally. After a brief stint there, he was promoted to Captain in May 2007 and was subsequently assigned to the 76th Precinct under the command of DI Kemper.
He was then tapped to become the Impact Captain/Executive Officer of the volatile 67th Precinct in October 2008. In April of 2012, he was recognized for his abilities and assigned as the Commanding Officer of the 76th Precinct. During this time he introduced innovative ideas that improved crime fighting and community outreach.
The first notable achievement made, was expanding his community outreach, building up the command’s e-mail list from 300 to over 1000 e-mail addresses and fostering community communication. The next landmark community outreach and crime-fighting tool he was first to utilize, was the social media site of Twitter where he “tweeted” information about criminal recidivists, crime trends, community happenings, notable arrests, etc.… That novel idea was picked up by the media and made national news. Because of this effort, his Twitter endeavor paved the way for NYPD to currently embrace social media under the stewardship of NYPD Police Commissioner William Bratton. For his effective and innovative efforts at the 76th Precinct, then Captain Schiff was promoted to Deputy Inspector in May 2013.
His rising career continued after his tenure at the 106th Precinct as on March 1st, 2016 he was transferred to the 105th Precinct, the 5th largest precinct in the city and the crown jewel of Patrol Borough Queens South. A week later he was selected to attend the prestigious Police Management Institute of Columbia University. His upward mobility continued unchecked, as shortly after this transfer and his selection to Columbia University, he was promoted to Inspector on June 26th, 2016. Since his installation to the 105th Precinct as the Commanding Officer, the Precinct has reduced crime by 12% in 2016 and, as such, the 105th Precinct has experienced the lowest amount of felony recorded crime in its history. Further, the 105th Precinct has also reduced to historic lows – shooting violence and homicides by 31% and by 88%, respectively in the same year. Lastly, for the calendar year 2016, civilian complaints against the 105th Precinct officers have also been reduced by 17%.
But, this is not the end of the story of his tenure at the 105th Precinct. Inspector Schiff was again transferred on May 29th, 2018 to the Counterterrorism Division as the Executive Officer. He left the precinct with an unprecedented reduction in crime by 12%. All of this was achieved by Inspector Schiff as he increased outreach and transparency in his precinct, leading to improved community relations and cooperation between all parties. This was evidenced by the tremendous honor he received at the last 105th Precinct Community Council meeting held on June 27th, 2018 in which 13 civic groups presented him with an Award for Excellence, an honor no one before had ever received.
He is proud to have grown up in Bellerose, Queens where he graduated Martin Van Buren High in Queens Village in 1985; Jeff managed to raise the bar in Community/Police relations right where he grew up.
