By Daniel Katzive
Inspector Naoki Yaguchi, who has led the 24th Precinct for three years, is retiring. The Inspector confirmed he would depart “soon” at the precinct’s monthly community council meeting on Wednesday.
Tom Burnett, the community council president, told the meeting that a replacement for Yaguchi has not yet been selected, but that two strong candidates are currently being considered.
Yaguchi joined the NYPD in 2005. Prior to commanding the 24th, Yaguchi was briefly commanding officer of the Central Park Precinct and before that served as executive officer (second in command) at the 40th Precinct in the Bronx. According to a Daily News report at the time of his promotion to commanding officer in Central Park, Yaguchi was the first NYPD officer of Japanese ancestry to be promoted to the rank of Captain and the first to command a precinct. Yaguchi was promoted to the departmental rank of Inspector late last year.
While working in the 40th Precinct in 2017, Yaguchi faced criminal charges, accused in a case brought by the Bronx District Attorney of delaying the administration of a Breathalyzer test on an off-duty detective involved in a car accident. He was acquitted of all charges by a judge in 2019 and, according to the Daily News, Police Commissioner James O’Neill at the time believed strongly in his innocence and felt he was maligned.
In terms of crime in the precinct, the Inspector reported a uptick in robberies in the past week after numbers had been improving in the final months of 2022. There was an attempted bank robbery Wednesday afternoon at the Wells Fargo at 88th Street. The suspect got away, but no money was taken.
The precinct has also recorded its first shooting incident of the year on Saturday night in the Frederick Douglass Houses. The victim survived and the case is being investigated by detectives currently. There were only 4 shooting incidents in the precinct in 2022, all of which resulted in arrests.
I wish the successor the best luck. This job and this position in particular is not easy to put it mildly.
Retiring with under 20 years on? That’s….not a good sign.
Actually, you don’t know the circumstances. He could have suffered an injury. He could have been made an offer from the private sector. I don’t know.
It means he leaves w/o a full pension. Aside from the above incident in the BX, he also has a CONFIRMED case of refusing to process a civilian complaint. That’s not becoming of a sergeant, let alone a captain.
https://www.50-a.org/officer/4335
The 2-4’s performance is pretty telling as well, including a few killings just a hundred yards from the precinct house. Someone at the Puzzle Palace downtown clearly told him to clear out his desk. Retiring saves face – he’s 2 years away from his full pension vesting since he joined in ’05.
Too many boot-lickers out there: and folks on the job will tell you as much too fwiw.
Thank you. Deputy Inspector Yaguchi for your service to the UWS community. We wish you success in your next endeavor. Thank you.
I’m disappointed the Rag chose to besmirch Inspector Yaguchi’s good name by bringing up an old irrelevant matter that has nothing to do with his command of the 24. The Inspector has earned our respect, praise and gratitude for his leadership of the men and women of the 24. He has been of great service to the Community and we wish to honor him with our thanks for his excellent service and leadership. We wish him well in retirement and all of his future endeavors Neil
I agree with this comment. Inspector Yaguchi being charged criminally in 2017 and acquitted in 2019 are both irrelevant to his performance as Commanding Officer of the 24 Precinct.
He’s only been in the NYPD for 17 years. Doesn’t make sense for someone to have gone through the ranks so quickly. He should have a promising career is he would stay. However the pressures he would face staying weighed against collecting a good pension and obviously he will be successful in any future endeavor. God’s speed Inspector and thank you for your dedication and service.
Such an honor to work with, he will be deeply missed among the NYCHA leaders. I wish him nothing but the best!
We all wish Inspector Yaguchi’s replacement the best of luck. This is just one example of the members of the NYPD leaving there positions and joining other state’s PD, as reported by the New York Post. Unfortunately they are not being allowed to preform their duties. When they do catch a criminal, Governor Kathy Hochul’s bail free policies have them back on the streets again many times with in a day. This of course only adds to the escalating crime and violence that we all are experiencing.
Are you sure it is Hochul? I place the blame on the legislature. Look at the disastrous situation with the judge.
Hochul tried to appoint a highly qualified, moderate judge. A number of state legislators who have no idea how the legal system works stopped it because he isn’t woke enough for them. The judge is not pro-life or anti-union – he ruled based on the law and the cases were decided on procedural technicalities, not as a referendum on the bigger issues. He made it clear today that he is pro-choice and pro-union. But no one wanted to listen.
Deputy Inspector Yaguchi is the most intelligent respected commanding officer who gave his time whenever the community needed him. There are no words for his dedication to serving the community and the small businesses. Under his command, every officer has done everything they can to assist your UWS small businesses and residents no matter all the obstacles that our elected officials have given them. I know firsthand and speak for many other stores that we have the BEST precinct who continually come to our aid and if people would take the time to speak personally with the commanding officer and other officers, you would know how much they are up against and how much they do for you and care for our community.
Deputy Inspector Yaguchi has all of our respect and he deserves tremendous gratitude for all he has done over the last 2+ years serving us despite the worst of times for our officers. We will miss him significantly and every day.
DI Yaguchi, be well and all the happiness and success for your future.
Called one of the finest leaders in NYPD, DI Yaguchi will be missed. Thank you
For you years of service to our neighborhood.
Thank you to Deputy Inspector Yaguchi. Your service to the UWS will forever be appreciated. I wish your successor support from our city’s leaders and gratitude from our community.
Thank you for your service, DI Yaguchi. The UWS would have been worse off without you.