Forest Hills Police Precinct Gets New Commanding Officer

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — The local police station in Forest Hills has a new leader:

Capt. Joseph Cappelmann was named the new commanding officer of the 112th Precinct, where he once worked as a sergeant.

Cappelmann, a former Queens resident, has spent the majority of his nearly 17-year NYPD career at bureaus across the borough.

Cappelmann joined the NYPD in 2003 and started his career as an officer in the anti-crime and patrol division of the 102nd Precinct in Richmond Hill, according to a police spokesperson.

He was promoted to sergeant in 2008 and spent the next two years serving with the 112th Precinct.

After that, he did stints with the Queens North patrol bureau's anti-crime and auto larceny units, the newly-created grand larceny division, and BLAST, which stands for the Burglary, Larceny, Apprehension and Surveillance Team.

That led to a promotion to lieutenant and six months with the 101st Precinct in Far Rockaway.

In 2017, he moved to the Chief of Department’s operations unit at NYPD headquarters.

He was named a captain just over a year later and served as second-in-command at the 114th Precinct in Astoria until his promotion this month.

Cappelmann replaces Capt. Jonathan Cermeli, who became commanding officer of the 110th Precinct in Elmhurst last week, according to the Queens Chronicle.

"It’s a fantastic place to work,” Cermeli said of the 112th Precinct, the Chronicle reported. “It’s one of the best precincts that I’ve ever worked in. Morale is high, the community is very supportive of the police.”

Cappelmann comes from a large police family: His father is a retired NYPD lieutenant, his brother Kevin is a retired narcotics detective and his oldest brother, John, is commanding officer of the department's Office of Analysis, Management & Planning.

He lives in Nassau County with his wife and two daughters.

The 112th Precinct community council will welcome Cappelmann back to the neighborhood at its next meeting Wednesday at Ridgewood Savings Bank.