‘He was a cop’s cop’: Chief Albert Girimonte, retired Staten Island NYPD commander, dies at 77

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Albert Girimonte, 77, a retired NYPD assistant chief who spent part of a storied career as Staten Island’s borough commander, died Saturday.

Girimonte spent his early life in Brooklyn and served his country as a member of the United States Air Force before earning a degree in criminal justice, which paved the way for his career in law enforcement, according to an obituary posted by Colonial Funeral Home in New Dorp.

Girimonte began his NYPD career as a patrol officer in Manhattan’s 20th Precinct in 1974 and was laid off the following year during the city’s fiscal crisis. He kept a copy of his termination letter on the wall of his office at the 122nd Precinct stationhouse in New Dorp once he took the helm of the NYPD on Staten Island, in part to remind him of how far he had come.

After he was rehired by the NYPD six weeks later, Girimonte went on to become commander of the 94th and 90th precincts in Brooklyn and the NYPD Aviation Unit and the Patrol Borough executive in Brooklyn North.

He was named Staten Island borough commander in April 2005.

Upon his promotion, former Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said of Girimonte, “We are appointing one of our most experienced executives to a critical post, commander of Patrol Borough of Staten Island.

“Since the renaissance in public safety that began in the early 1990s, Staten Island has consistently been among the leading boroughs in crime reduction, thanks largely to the work of some exceptionally talented borough commanders there,” Kelly said. “We expect that tradition to continue under new Assistant Chief Albert Girimonte.”

Girimonte would retire three years later after 35 years with the department in 2008 at the age of 63.

“It was like a big…