The NYPD dispatches its best to track down the city’s worst criminals — and the fugitives almost invariably end up in cuffs.
The dangerous busts are most often done quickly and quietly, the work of a small, elite and dogged group known as the Queens Violent Felony Squad.
One of its members, Detective Kevin Herlihy, was shot and wounded in Harlem last Tuesday.
“We all love the hunt,” explains squad commander Lt. Paul Weeks. “We are doing police work and we are doing God’s work, trying to make it safe for everyone.”
Herlihy’s colleagues travel the borough, the city and sometimes the world to collar fleeing crooks.
Almost none of the bad guys stay on the run for long.
In 2011, the relentless squad handled 89 cases — and all but one suspect was in custody, a stunning 99% clearance rate.
In addition to busting criminals in short order, the team operates with one other goal — “to go home to their families at night,” said Weeks, a 19-year NYPD veteran.
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