Suffolk PD's Edwin Hugh, Thomas Joy receive Attorney General award

Two Suffolk County police officers were nationally recognized recently for enhancing their department’s relationship with Long Island’s Asian American community.

Det. Edwin Hugh, of Mount Sinai, and community relations and recruitment Officer Thomas Joy, of Bellmore, were recipients of the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service in Community Policing last month during a ceremony in Washington, D.C. The award celebrates officers who demonstrate “exceptional dedication” to strengthening trust, promoting community engagement and enhancing public safety, according to the Office of the U.S. Attorney General.

Hugh and Joy’s efforts include being among those who in 2014 founded the Suffolk County Police Asian Jade Society, an organization with nearly 200 members that allows Asian American police officers and citizens to collaborate and encourages their involvement in the community. The pair currently serve as the society’s board president and vice president, respectively.

Since the organization’s inception, the number of Asian Americans in the Suffolk County Police Department has jumped from 17 to around 50, they said. The society has also been involved in more than 100 local events this year as organizers, volunteers or sponsors.

“Thomas and I really try to get out and engage with the Asian American community and promote cultural awareness through all our contacts with the Suffolk County Police Department and the local government,” Hugh said.

Joy added, “When we formed, it was just to be a police fraternal organization, however people started to reach out to us from the Asian American community for assistance and guidance with different things. So we soon started getting into community stuff more than police stuff.”

One of the society’s most important efforts occurred amid the COVID-19 pandemic, when there was a wave of hate crimes against Asian Americans across the United States, they said. While there were few reported incidents of such crimes in Suffolk County, Hugh and Joy became a liaison between the victims and the department and were instrumental in organizing a rally to stop Asian hate that attracted more than 500 people to the county offices in Hauppauge.

Other efforts include lobbying the federal government for more Asian education in schools, state officials to make Lunar New Year a public school holiday in New York, and county officials to create an Office of Multicultural Affairs and Community Engagement.

“The partnership between Det. Hugh and Officer Joy has benefited the department and the Asian American community we serve,” said Suffolk County Police Acting Commissioner Robert Waring.

Hugh joined the Suffolk police in 2003 after six years with the NYPD, where he was among the initial responders after the 9/11 terror attacks. Joy, who immigrated from India at age 17, joined the Suffolk police in 2010 after 12 years of active duty in the U.S. Army, including a stint in Iraq from 2005-06.

By Michael R. Ebert

michael.ebert@newsday.com

Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.