[YWN PHOTO LINK BELOW] Today marks the retirement of NYPD Chief of Transportation Michael Scagnelli, a great friend of the Jewish Community – and who can be given the honorable title as one of the “Chasdei Umos Ha’olam”.

To list the amount of Chesed that he did on behalf of the community would literally be impossible….

In an emotional farewell, Chief Scagnelli walked out of 1 Police Plaza for the last time on Thursday at 2:30PM. Hundreds of high-ranking NYPD brass were on hand to cheer him off, and wish him well.

With an NYPD chopper hovering above, a massive NYPD vehicle escort was awaiting the Chief, where he was driven to his Staten Island home. Every road was shut down in one last show of honor & salute by members of the NYPD Highway Divison – which was part of Chief Scagnelli’s Transportation Division.

Amongst his many accomplishments, Scagnelli will be remembered for reducing the number of deaths on New York City streets, and he pioneered NYPD’s TrafficStat, a traffic analysis unit that deploys enforcement resources to efficiently move traffic and attempt to reduce crashes on New York City streets.

“Chief Scagnelli helped battle the notion that traffic fatalities are random and unpreventable. TrafficStat, while far from perfect, set the precedent of strategically using enforcement to bring crash rates down,” says Paul Steely White, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives. “It’s incumbent upon his replacement to maintain and expand TrafficStat, and better use it to ensure the safety of our growing numbers of bicyclists and pedestrians.”

Although there is much speculation as to who will replace him, there was no official word from the department.

YWN wishes our dear friend Chief Scagnelli much success in all his future endeavours!

YWN PHOTO LINK: Click HERE for photos.

(YWN Editorial Staff – NYC)