Greenpoint Serial Litterer Identified As NYPD Sergeant John Trzcinski

The search for Greenpoint’s mysterious serial litterer has ended. On Tuesday (June 18), Gothamist published an article identifying NYPD Sergeant John Trzcinski, who was disciplined with a loss of one vacation day back in April.

Random papers that littered the street every Sunday morning for four years are said to be “from old Reader’s Digests, Bibles, junk mail and 1970s porn magazines” along Noble Street, Manhattan Avenue and Franklin Street. Surveillance videos showed a driver hurling the pages from his car “before sunrise.”

“It felt accidental at first, and then after a couple times, it felt intentional,” said Greenpoint resident Dillon Kraus. Kraus, who moved to the neighborhood last year, adds that “hundreds, maybe thousands of pages” were scattered along Noble Street. Papers that were found on Noble Street oddly didn’t qualify as illegal dumping.

Trzcinski grew up in a family home on the block, which was sold in 2016. Despite the disciplinary action taken against him, Gothamist says he “was not fined or issued a summons by the sanitation department, which can run in the thousands of dollars.”

Prior to the discovery, block residents gave inquiries, while a private security firm and the NYPD Internal Affairs investigator were also involved. Block association meetings were held to find the littering culprit, but one overnight stakeout resulted in Trzcinski’s license plate being identified.

Trzcinski, who now works in the NYPD auto pounds command, was described by one of his sisters as “an environmentalist.”