A Much-Deserved Victor-y For Local Officer

By Katie McFadden

It’s not every day that the Mayor of New York City gives an on-the-spot promotion to one of New York’s Finest. But one of Rockaway’s Finest achieved just that last week. “Job well done,” Mayor Eric Adams said at his town hall at P.S. 42 in Rockaway on Wednesday, March 19, after hearing about some of the above-and-beyond community accomplishments Police Officer Victor Boamah has achieved over the years. And as a reward for that community service, Officer Boamah was offered a promotion to third grade detective by Mayor Adams himself.

Boamah has taken his role in NYPD Community Affairs to a whole other level at the 100th Precinct. At Wednesday’s town hall, Ed Lynch, vice president of the Belle Harbor Property Owners Association (BHPOA), gave a speech in which he outlined just a few of the things he’s witnessed, from Officer Boamah hosting a free Thanksgiving dinner for 500 people at the precinct, to a Veterans’ Breakfast for more than 100 people, and even gifting a new bicycle to a 14-year-old who reported theirs stolen. “We are very, very lucky to have him,” Lynch told Mayor Adams.

In response to Lynch’s testimony, which received loud applause from the audience, Mayor Adams announced, “The work that these men and women do often goes unlooked, but today you are a white shield, you will be a third-grade detective.” With a big smile on his face, Officer Boamah ran up to the mayor and hugged him in response to the news. Adams then acknowledged the community service aspect behind the instant decision to promote Boamah. “That’s what matters. If he would’ve made 500-gun collars, they would’ve promoted him. If he found 500 people who did something wrong, they would promote him, but the mere fact he was able to do something to prevent decline, they want to overlook him. I’m not going to overlook him. Job well done,” Adams said.

The promotion comes after decades of service to the community that goes beyond even the uniform. Boamah, originally from Ghana, West Africa, came to the U.S. when he was about seven years old, and since he landed in Far Rockaway, he’s dedicated himself to service in the community. “Growing up as a little kid in Africa, it was tough. It was always a community of giving, and seeing that at an early age, was instilled in my heart,” Boamah told The Rockaway Times.

Boamah started second grade at P.S. 197 and went on to I.S. 53 and then Far Rockaway High School. While going to school, in ninth grade, Boamah started working at a Dunkin Donuts/ Baskin Robbins location next to where Peninsula Hospital was through high school, and eventually started working as an office cleaner for then Council Member Joseph Addabbo. He also spent time volunteering with the Far Rockaway Youth Corps. and with aspirations of going to law school, he started doing internships at the Queens District Attorney’s office, while pursuing a bachelors in English at John Jay College. Through college, Boamah continued working at Dunkin Donuts, becoming manager until the Peninsula Hospital location closed, and he continued at a location in Wavecrest.

Through internships, Boamah realized law school wasn’t for him, so after graduating college in 2013, he accepted his first job offer as a youth counselor at Queens Library in Far Rockaway, eventually becoming a community advocate for the library. Then in 2015, he was hired by the Rockaway YMCA, doing front desk work, then running an after-school program, working his way up to site director, and then promoted to assistant youth and family director.

While working all around the peninsula and going to school, Boamah found time to start giving back to the community through unpaid opportunities. Boamah was deeply moved by the murder of his high school quarterback, Patrick Hernandez, by another teen, a week before graduation in 2008. As a result, in 2011, he started a nonprofit organization, Giving the Gift of Love, Inc., which gave youth an outlet to spread love through the community by helping others. Through the organization, Boamah started leading things like health fairs, street cleanups, back to school events and Thanksgiving dinners.

His work was recognized by the 101st Precinct Community Council, so he was nominated to become president of the organization. Boamah accepted. Coincidentally, years earlier, his older brother had asked him to take the NYPD test as a birthday gift. “In African culture, when older siblings tell you to do something, you have to do it,” Boamah said. About three months after taking the test, an investigator called Boamah to start the process for the job, but after some negative interactions with police in his youth, it wasn’t what Boamah wanted. “I never wanted to be a cop,” he said. Yet instead of backing out of the process, Boamah was encouraged to delay it. As his test list was coming close to expiration, officers he worked closely with in the 101st Precinct like Kevin Campbell, encouraged him to give it a shot. “So, I prayed about it and did it,” Boamah said.

n July 2, 2018, Boamah was sworn into the NYPD, and he’s never looked back. While in the academy, Boamah was assigned to the 71st Precinct in Crown Heights while field training. However, he was given an opportunity to enter a community service essay contest, the winner of which would get to select their precinct upon graduation. Boamah won. While he couldn’t select the precinct he lived in, Boamah picked the next best thing—the 100th Precinct. He began in the 100th after graduating the academy in 2018.

After some vacancies opened in NYPD Community Affairs, Boamah’s then commanding officer, Captain Carlos Fabara, knew Boamah would be the right officer for the job, but Boamah found himself truly enjoying being a cop. “I really liked patrol. It had my heart back then,” Boamah said. But he decided to give Community Affairs a try in 2021.

Unsurprisingly, it’s a role he’s flourished in. Initially working with Officer Lauren Haber and now Detective Anthony Byrd, with Officer Boamah’s help, the 100th Precinct has brought community service to the forefront. After all, it’s something Boamah has been doing for more than a decade through his nonprofit and in his former role as president of the 101st Precinct Community Council. So through the precinct, the Thanksgiving dinners, the Veterans’ breakfasts, the back to school programs and more, have reached even more people, and has gained even more support, through organizations like the BHPOA.

And while he’s become a known face at the 100th Precinct for community interactions, Boamah still makes sure to be a solid cop. Boamah says he met Ed Lynch after someone had trespassed in a neighbor’s backyard. After the neighbor called 911, the suspect unfortunately got away due to a delayed response. Lynch brought up the incident at a BHPOA meeting, and Officer Boamah followed up with the complaint and started working close with Lynch afterwards. In turn, the BHPOA started partnering with Boamah on some of the 100th Precinct’s community events, so Lynch has seen firsthand the work Boamah has done, which inspired him to speak up at last week’s town hall, after Boamah’s efforts have yet to be recognized, despite the work of co-workers and elected officials who have tried to get him promoted to detective.

So ahead of the town hall, Lynch told Boamah that he’d put in a good word for him with the mayor. Boamah just wasn’t expecting the outcome. “I’m still shocked. It felt surreal. Other people have tried to get me promoted but this was God’s timing. To be on center stage with the community there, promoted by the mayor, never in a billion years if you told me that was going to happen would I have believed it,” Boamah said. “Ed Lynch didn’t hit a home run. He hit a grand slam.”

And what came next off camera, may have been even more meaningful. “After the town hall, somebody walked up to me and whispered in my ear, ‘I want you to know I’m proud of you. Growing up in the hood, I had trauma of cops, and I know you grew up in Far Rockaway, and you have showed me a difference. You have shown me that not everyone is like that.’ Just to be able to give people a different perspective of being a police officer, and seeing a different light, I thank God for that,” Boamah said.

This Friday, March 28, joined by his wife and two young children, fellow officers and members of the community, at the NYPD Police Academy in College Point, Officer Boamah will officially become Detective Third Grade Boamah. “I’m excited,” Boamah said. “I just want to thank the community, especially Ed Lynch, my partners, my commanding officer Deputy Inspector Carol Hamilton, and God. It still hasn’t hit me yet. For this to come from the mayor is truly a blessing. I’m very humbled.”

Boamah explains the position comes with the same authority as a police officer, but a bit of a higher paycheck. After taking the test, he is on the list to become sergeant at some point, a position that would result in him being reassigned from the 100th Precinct, but for now, Boamah is happy to serve the place he was raised. “I love what I do in community affairs,” Boamah said. “I tell people nothing lasts forever, but while we’re here, we’re going to enjoy it.”