When Facts Aren’t Facts, You Can’t Call On Them
This week, there was a home invasion burglary in Bay Ridge. Info here. I waited before sharing it because I hoped it wasn’t real.
On social media, men are acting like that didn’t happen and talking about how SAFE the neighborhood is. Seriously, are they that out of touch? Do they know that a home invasion happened here? The comments on this are absurd
THERE ARE SINGLE MOTHERS AND ELDERLY LIVING HERE. And if you live near where this happened, you probably don’t feel safe. A burglary is A LOT different than someone stealing a bike from an unlocked garage or backyard.
Why are people who don’t live in Bay Ridge writing about the twisted statistics of our neighborhood as if they are facts? Everyone who lives here, knows the stats are tainted. I’ve been writing about it for years (see here….notice the date on that). Mansplaining fake statistics doesn’t change the facts for residents!
You don’t live here – talk about your own neighborhood stats! We all know someone, who has called the 68th precinct and couldn’t get a patrol car to come out.
MOST UPSETTING: In May, parents whose boys met the Bay Ridge flasher, called the police repeatedly for hours and couldn’t get a patrol car to come to their home until they told Councilman Brannan what happened. The police arrived immediately after Brannan contacted them. THAT’S NOT HOW IT IS SUPPOSED TO WORK! If you looked at how close the family lived to the precinct, you would find it alarming. (More info here) We are just lucky that guy was caught and the situation wasn’t worse. Nothing was rectified after this situation.
The politicians in the area didn’t do ANYTHING about it. The problem is two-fold. The NYPD not responding to calls is a problem. It’s not a shortage of staff because a lot of officers were added (so let’s not pretend we are still short-staffed). Mayor de Blasio wants certain stats and he’s being provided those stats. If calls are answered, the crime statistics are going to go up.
Is Bay Ridge dangerous…no – but we are having problems and we need patrol cars. We have asked for patrol cars for several years. We were promised patrol cars through the NCO Program, but that program is a bust here (I hear the NCO program works better in Bensonhurst). The disconnect between what residents here need and what they are receiving is real. Yes, it is an urban area, but it’s not too much to ask the police to patrol regularly…even semi-regularly.
It’s strange that men would use social media to mansplain safety like it wasn’t important to people! It’s important! In fact, it’s so important to many of us.
Imagine being a 75-year-old senior citizen who lives near that home that was burglarized and no one is doing anything to make him or her feel safer?
I don’t live near there, but I would be really annoyed if I was a senior and no one was talking about securing the area and police patrols stepping it up.
Hugs,
marlene
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