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Undercover NJ Transit police officer Dean Kenny, who is retiring after 25 years on the force, walks the platform at Newark Penn Station.

(John Munson/The Star-Ledger)

Scurrying to your platform at New Jersey’s busiest train station, you don’t notice the jeans-wearing guy with the close-cropped brown hair and goatee.

But Dean Kenny, a master of blending into crowds, sees you.

If you are a potential target for a pickpocket at Newark Penn Station, the NJ Transit undercover officer is watching out for you.

If you are a thief, he is just watching you.

In his 25-year career as an officer for NJ Transit, he has found a live baby boy in the trash, broken two ribs chasing a pickpocket in a train car and helped close numerous cases.

"I just had a good eye for crimes," said Kenny, who retired last week, letting The Star-Ledger blow his cover with a photograph.

For many people, Newark Penn Station is the gateway to New Jersey’s largest city.

There, homeless people with all their earthly possessions in bags coexist with Wall Street millionaires, European tourists or a father and son looking to head to the Devils game.

Where there are crowds, there are opportunities for crimes.

Kenny said he keeps a protective eye out for vulnerable commuters — women with dangling, easily accessible purses and people from other countries.

"Tourists, they’ve got the cameras. They dress a little bit differently than American people and they have their caps and they’re always conversing real fast, they’re looking around, they’re taking pictures, asking questions," Kenny said. "And pickpockets see this — that they’re lost, that they’re not from the area."

The 52-year-old undercover officer gave some tips on how to safeguard yourself from pickpockets and what to look out for.

One common ploy, he said, is for a pickpocket team to use a woman as a decoy.

"If you’re going up an escalator or you’re on a train, you as a woman are going to feel more comfortable with a woman next to you than a man, right? So when a woman’s on a woman, the pickpocket’s behind you unzipping your pocketbook and taking your wallet," Kenny said. "Because you’re bumping into the female in front of you who keeps stopping — it’s not a man bumping into you, But as that’s going on, they’re taking your wallets."

He said pickpocket crimes have been curtailed at the transit terminal. Other common crimes have included stolen credit cards or the theft of bus passes.

Kenny looks for "tells" by criminals — people who turn and walk the other way when they see a baggage inspection, for example.

He recommends that commuters at the transit station keep moving to their destinations and avoid stopping to talk to strangers or indulging panhandlers.

"We don’t allow panhandling here, it’s not tolerated here," Kenny said. "People work hard and they don’t want to get panhandled by anybody after working 12 hours and somebody’s trying to shake you down for a dollar or $2."

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in Lower Manhattan, counterterrorism efforts became more heavily emphasized at Newark Penn Station.

NJ Transit Police Inspector Laura Hester, who at one time worked plainclothes detail with Kenny, said his instincts are remarkable.

"He could be going home, and on his way out the door he’d see something and turn around and tell one of the officers," Hester said. "Next thing you know, he’s walking in with an arrest."

"Outstanding officer, very dedicated to the job," she added. "(He) motivates young officers to do their job. He’s closed so many cases for us. He’s such a positive person."

But criminals have instincts, too, and Kenny has had more than a few memorable cases in his quarter-century run — the last 18 as an undercover officer.

In the summer of 2000, Kenny noticed a large man picking the pocket of a woman on a train.

"Well, as I grabbed him, the train door shut and we were fighting," Kenny recalled. "We fought and somebody pulled the emergency stop and stopped, and the guy climbed through the window. Got out of the window on me. He got the door open and he jumped down the stairs and we wound up catching him. I broke two ribs."

Kenny had his most memorable moment outside Newark Penn Station on Feb. 1, 1993, when the wind chill made it feel like close to minus-20 degrees.

"I was notified by a parking attendant of a female who may have dropped a doll in a Dumpster or a garbage can," Kenny said. "Within about 5 minutes ... we found a 2-day-old baby in the Dumpster, and the baby did survive because of our rescue efforts."

Kenny worked with his sibling Pete at NJ Transit, but said, "All my partners were my brothers. We all wore the same uniform."

Kenny, an avid outdoorsman who plans to spend plenty of time fishing for striped bass, said he worked for seven police chiefs and seven NJ Transit executive directors during his tenure.

The undercover detail started for Kenny in 1996.

"It started out as a 30-day order," he said. "They always used to tease me and said I had the longest 30-day order. It lasted 18 years."

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