By Britney Trachtenberg | news@queensledger.com
Courtesy of @NYPDChiefPatrol on X/Twitter.
On Thurs., Feb. 22, during a ceremony at One Police Plaza, Police Commissioner Edward A. Caban promoted School Crossing Guard Krystyna Naprawa to the title of Community Coordinator after her death.
Naprawa worked as an NYPD School Crossing Guard. On Oct. 20, 2023, Naprawa helped pedestrians cross the intersection at Woodhaven Blvd and Atlantic Ave. during her morning shift. Seconds after, a turning sanitation truck hit and killed her.
Naprawa’s family, friends, and coworkers attended the ceremony, during which NYPD executives announced the distribution of new safety equipment, increased training, and updated policies for the police department’s crossing guards.
Police Commissioner Edward A. Caban described Naprawa as someone who “cherished her job as an NYPD School Crossing Guard” and “loved the familiar faces she saw each day.”
NYPD School Crossing Guards stand at many of NYC’s most populated intersections and seek to protect all pedestrians, specifically, students walking to and from school. NYPD hopes to improve safety standards through an edited training program supervised by the Traffic Enforcement Training Unit. The course now takes seven days instead of six and contains a field-training element. Every School Crossing Guard must take an annual refresher course.
From the NYPD, School Crossing Guards reportedly will receive new whistles, vests, and “stop” paddles. The NYPD seeks to give each patrol borough twelve “stop” signs with detachable poles for use at truck routes and bigger intersections.
At the Woodhaven Blvd and Atlantic Ave intersection, the NYPD wants to station multiple crossing guards.
Henry Garrido, Executive Director of District Council 37, thanked Police Commissioner Caban “for this posthumous recognition of a beloved member of the DC 37 family.” Garrido said, “The investment in additional resources for the safety of our School Crossing Guards, and the increased coverage at Krystyna’s former intersection, will ensure that the impact she made – on her colleagues and on our community – will endure for many years to come.”
The city has already made changes to the Woodhaven Blvd and Atlantic Ave intersection. The city’s Department of Transportation recently installed a right-turn signal in the lane where the truck was turning from when the driver hit Naprawa, as reported on by the Queens Ledger earlier this month. The turning signal will not have a green light. Instead, it will have a red light that will turn amber, which tells cars and trucks to drive slowly and carefully.
