What if Crime in Bay Ridge is Hidden from the Public?
Over the past two months, I’ve heard of several crimes that were reported to the 68th Precinct, yet there was no dissemination of information from the 68th Precinct, Marty Golden, Vincent Gentile, Nicole Malliotakis or the local newspapers. Even the 68th Precinct Community Council hasn’t posted anything on their Facebook page.
The public isn’t told anything about these incidents, but could it be possible that they aren’t reporting them to the city. Could the NYPD 68th Precinct not be reporting these incidents so they could keep their numbers low? How would that benefit them? Does this affect promotions or bonuses? Is there a group in NYC that investigates to see if precincts are providing accurate information?
Over the Summer, Bay Ridge residents complained about the problems of drug dealers on their block THAT HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR YEARS. They even complained on a two year old newspaper article. How does local politicians: Golden, Gentile and Malliotakis let this continue for years?
In September there were two cases of arson that I know about…..another one I was told about but I can’t confirm it. There’s no mention of the arson incidents anywhere but on Facebook.
Another recent incident involved a robbery from a child near Owls Head Park. It was reported to the NYPD – again no information from the precinct, politicians or newspapers. Thankfully some parents are spreading the information through text.
In the Summer, I came out of Walgreens on 95th Street/3rd Avenue to see good residents trying to help a woman whose husband was not acting appropriate towards his child. I didn’t see the incident, but there were more than 20 people gathered upset, angry and trying to get help. Residents kept calling the police on their cell phones, but no one came. I waited with them for an hour and the 68th Precinct didn’t come up. The man walked just walked away.
In August, I found another precinct thanking the 68th Precinct for loaning them officers. How can Captain Festino loan out officers and then say the 68th Precinct is short staffed (yes I was told this by his staff this Summer).
This month, the 68th Precinct had the walls of the precinct painted pink. Pictures of the precinct appear in the papers, but no information about crime or a warning on what to be on the lookout for in our community. Can the NYPD legally alter a public building? No resident would be allowed to alter a public building, so why would the NYPD? You have to get a permit to play tennis around here so I’m sure there has to be some kind of paperwork for painting a government building.
Last weekend, the 68th Precinct had their wall painted pink. How is that allowed? This weekend it appears the 68th Precinct is asking people to write on the precinct building. I’m not sure they are definitely writing on their building so I wrote to them on their twitter account. They didn’t answer – they never do. I was told by a Lieutenant there that their twitter account is run by an older NYPD officer so that’s why he doesn’t respond. If their goal is to raise awareness about breast cancer, why are they staying at their precinct and doing this, rather than going to one of the high schools and involving students? .Update – they put hot pink oaktag up and less than 20 people signed it. They didn’t involve the community as other precincts have.
Whoever is running the contest at the NYPD did a poor job in setting up the contest. The 68th Precinct doesn’t seem to understand the goal here is to raise awareness – see what this precinct did. Obviously the prize must be something big. Shouldn’t the prize be provided to the department that raised people’s awareness and didn’t just do something for a picture?
Imagine the NYPD made an app which allowed people to write complaints like mine and it was actually looked at by someone who could do something about it. Some people say just call 311. But calling 311 doesn’t work for law enforcement action in our area. If you call 311 with a complaint for the police, they close the call without coming out. They know no one is checking to see if 311 calls have been answered so they can close them fast.
I am crashing the hashtag #NYPDBlueGoesPink because something isn’t right here and there has to be a few good officers who can help me out (at least one, right). I have tried contacting the Captain and he pushed my call off to his officer (who was polite, but didn’t have any information or answers). If you happen to see this post and know where I can some help, let me know in the comments section (comments don’t publish)
Hugs,
marlene
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