Cop’s tireless devotion
Detective goes above and beyond for her Queens nabe
NYPD Detective Tanya Duhaney has devoted a good part of her 20-year career to reaching across the divide and building bridges with communities in Southeast Queens. It hasn’t gone unnoticed.
Duhaney’s boss in the Patrol Borough Queens South Community Affairs office, Sgt. James Clarke, has nominated her for a Daily News Hometown Heroes award for her tireless work in the neighborhoods she serves.
“You can’t go anywhere in Southeast Queens without someone mentioning her name,” said Clarke, 60, a 39-year veteran. “She has not only helped her community, but has motivated, encouraged and inspired her fellow law enforcement officers to get more involved.”
Duhaney grew up in South Jamaica, where people were leery of the police. As a cop, she set about to change that in her corner of the city.
“In the 113 [Precinct], a lot of people are fearful of walking into the precinct, but I think we changed that to where now we can’t keep people out of there,” the daughter of Jamaican immigrants said. “People will in come in and want to volunteer and sit in the office for hours.”
Duhaney’s list of good deeds spans the past 10 years.
She has organized overnight camping trips in city parks for young people and visits to the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree for senior citizens. That’s all in addition to hosting a “Christmas in July” event for kids in shelters, and taking on eight high schoolers to work in the precinct as part of a summer youth program.
After 14-year-old Aamir Griffin was killed by a stray bullet while playing basketball in a neighborhood court in 2019, Duhaney organized the installation of a commemorative bench outside the home of the boy’s mother.
She sought out an artist to design a mural for the court where Aamir was killed.
“This effort wasn’t led by elected officials or community groups but by a New York City police detective,” said the Rev. William Armstead, pastor of the First Church of God in Christ in St. Albans. “She actually brought that community together and showed love through words and deeds.”
After Aamir was murdered, the court remained vacant.
“No one was using it, and I was like, ‘No, Aamir loved basketball and he would want his friends there,’ ” Duhaney, 48, said. “I wrote the grant and won the money so we could draw a rainbow for Aamir.”
One of Duhaney’s m o s t popular events is her annual Prom Impact, in which she has arranged formal wear to be donated to teenage girls to wear to their proms.
“It’s really unbelievable,” marveled Sgt. Clarke. “From makeup to hair to making sure the kids are fed, there’s peer mentorship if they need anyone to talk about anything.”
“She gets hundreds of girls coming in. She gets donations from everywhere, but some of it comes from her own pocket.”
In June 2016, Duhaney made sure 95-year-old World War II veteran and retired Detective William Brown had a proper burial.
She befriended Brown when the St. Albans man was hospitalized for hypothermia and cops from the 113th Precinct stepped in to assist him.
When Duhaney learned Brown’s body wasn’t claimed two weeks after his May 2016 death, she and the precinct arranged his interment at the Long Island National Cemetery in Farmingdale.
She noted that in 2020 she pounded the pavement as unrest and protests erupted after George Floyd was murdered by a Minnesota police officer.
“It was the only community that wasn’t destroyed, and I believe that’s because of the relationships we had,” she said.
“I do it because I love it. I love my community, I wanted to bridge the gap.
It’s really easy. All you have to do is be kind and have compassion and you can get it done as well.”