WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2005

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DISTRICT ATTORNEY RICHARD A. BROWN PRESENTS “PERSONS OF THE YEAR” AWARDS ON BEHALF OF ASIAN AMERICAN COUNCIL
Honorees are Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Judge Deborah Stevens Modica

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown, on behalf of the Asian American Council, presented New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Judge Deborah Stevens Modica, Supervising Judge of Queens County Criminal Court, with the Council’s 2005 Man and Woman of the Year Awards during a reception marking the Council’s 21st anniversary.

The Asian American Council was founded in 1984 to improve communications and cooperation between the New York City Police Department and the Asian American community. The Council is committed to serving the Asian American community and improving the quality of life of Asian Americans by providing information and guidance with regard to the law, education, business practices and social norms within American society.

District Attorney Brown said, “I am delighted to extend congratulations to the Asian American Council on the occasion of its 21st anniversary. Over the years the Council has assumed an increasingly important role both here in Queens County and across the entire City. Not only has it strived to help our growing Asian-American population build new lives in our City, but it has worked unstintingly to encourage greater understanding between our cultures and to build bridges of greater awareness and understanding.”

In presenting Mayor Michael Bloomberg with the Council’s Man of the Year Award, District Attorney Brown said, “I am especially pleased to be presenting this award to Mayor Bloomberg because of his support of the law enforcement community over the past four years and for his leadership in developing and implementing some of the many new and innovative initiatives that have helped to continue to drive crime down and improve the quality of life for residents of New York City.”

District Attorney Brown noted that among the Mayor’s initiatives are the Felony Gun Program, which has dramatically increased the length of prison sentences being imposed by the courts for carrying illegal handguns and in the process has helped significantly to reduce the level of violence in the City and the Digital Photography and Digital 911 Programs which have allowed the District Attorney’s Office to enhance its domestic violence prosecutions and build stronger cases against batterers and to make more informed decisions about custody and bail and to better protect crime victims.

District Attorney Brown, in presenting the Council’s Woman of the Year Award to Judge Modica, said, “I am honored to be presenting this award to Judge Deborah Stevens Modica who presided over Queens County’s first Domestic Violence Part and is the Chair of the Criminal Court’s Citywide Domestic Violence Committee. For the last three years, Judge Modica has served as the Supervising Judge of our Criminal Court here in Queens. It is a court in which justice is administered more expeditiously than in any other place in the City and that means that we get our police officers back on the street protecting our residents and business owners more quickly than any other county.”

The awards were presented during a reception last night at the East Manor Banquet Hall in Flushing, New York.