Metro

Sting operations

BUZZ THRILL: Anthony Planakis, at work (top) and with Ray Kelly yesterday, wears a bee pendant.

BUZZ THRILL: Anthony Planakis, at work (top) and with Ray Kelly yesterday, wears a bee pendant. (Daniel Shapiro)

The NYPD’s bee-control czar was rewarded for nearly two decades of sting-stopping service yesterday as Commissioner Ray Kelly promoted him from officer to detective.

Anthony Planakis — who answered his first swarm-related call in 1995 — will be granted a new bee-mobile and additional equipment to help control the proliferation of honey-makers throughout the buzzing city.

Kelly said that as the Finest’s resident bee expert, Planakis has single-handedly marshaled the department’s bee-busting efforts and is alternately known as “Tony Bees” or “Police Officer Bees.”

“He’s been doing a great job. He’s been doing it largely on his own, and we want to make sure he has the full means and the capacity to do it,” the commissioner said, explaining the promotion.

Planakis is formally assigned to the Police Department’s buildings and maintenance division, but says he ends up running out on bee-wrangling jobs roughly three times a week during the spring and summer.

“It’s my passion,” a beaming Planakis said yesterday.

In praising his top bee bouncer, Kelly admitted to receiving some sweet-tasting swag — two jars of fresh New York City honey courtesy of Planakis.

“It’s a hobby,” Planakis said. “I didn’t know it would become my job.”