STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A concerned community helped police quickly nab a man they believe is responsible for vandalizing his Jewish neighbors' garage with an anti-semitic slur and swastika.

Captain Mark Molinari of the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force said police were able to identify James Rizzo, 37, as a person of interest, thanks to the interviews and surveillance footage collected from the residents of Wirt Avenue in Rossville.

"Our presence out there really got the community up and together," Molinari said. "This is the best conclusion we can ask for right now."

Molinari said the 123rd Precinct followed proper protocol, and contacted the Hate Crimes Task Force on Tuesday.

From there, police interviewed the victims, and took pictures of the garage door that had been painted with the hateful symbol.

Police had identified Rizzo, who lives across the street from the victims, as a person of interest by Thursday, and he was taken into custody at around 1:30 p.m.

Rizzo's father, who is also named James, did not have much to say about his son's arrest Thursday night. He only said he did not believe what his son had allegedly done was a hate crime, and that the younger Rizzo had mental health issues.

Molinari could not speak to Rizzo's mental capacity.

Assistant Chief Edward Delatorre credited the department's hard work, and community engagement with the case's quick turnaround.

"The NYPD has the greatest detectives in the world, and when assisted by a great community and a dedicated, hard-working patrol force, positive results are not unusual," he said in a statement.

Both Molinari and Delatorre noted the incident as an abbaration. This incident was only the second of two cases classified as hate crimes so far this year in the 123rd Precinct.

In a shocking incident reminiscent of the hatred in parts of the south in the 1960s, the NYPD recently launched an investigation after vandals scratched the phrase "n----- get out" into the hood of the car of a black family in Annadale.

"Move b---h" was also written on the trunk of a silver 2012 Volkswagen 4-door sedan that was parked on the street in front of a home on Sneden Avenue near Seguine Place in Annadale. The incident was reported to police on Oct. 11.

Molinari said the investigation into that incident is ongoing.

"It's not the ordinary," Delatorre said in a statement. "We want to make clear, it's an abberation."

"These are the first two hate-crime incidents on the South Shore for the year. And while we take each and every hate crime very (seriously), this crime might have taken a whole lot longer to solve had we not had the assitance of the residents of the South Shore."

A member of the Where to Turn clean-up team, at the request of City Councilmen Steve Matteo and Joe Borelli, power washed and painted the door on Wirt Avenue, erasing the hateful graffiti.

Debbie Calabrese, the victim of the anti-semetic scrawl, said she's still in shock someone would do this.

"People are very angry and I cannot believe it happened," Calabrese said. "They're in as much shock and devastation, as I am. Neighbors are telling me relatives or friends outside of Staten Island caught wind of this from Facebook and are enraged by it, too."

Calabrese could not be reached for comment on Rizzo's arrest Thursday evening.