NCO Policing Program Failed in Bay Ridge

 

For Bay Ridge, we need to return to the NYPD 911 response team and patrol model. The Neighborhood Policing Model has not been been beneficial to this community as our community has different needs.

In May, parents in Bay Ridge contacted the police when a man exposed himself to their sons near Vista Place and 68th Street. After three hours of waiting for the police, the parents contacted Councilman Brannan. In a few minutes, the police arrived at the home to speak with the parents due to Councilman Brannan’s prompting.  Newspapers here didn’t reveal that last bit of information, but parents here know what happened.  See here 

Look at how close the family was to the police precinct on 65th Street:

Bay Ridge was lucky there was surveillance cameras to help capture the man. See here

In this community, many people respect the police.  But when the police don’t respond to a parent for HOURS, we know we have a serious problem. 

Coucilman Brannan saw the NCO for that area didn’t respond within an hour. At that point, Brannan should have met with Chief Harrison or Commissioner James O’Neil because community policing  isn’t working here. 

Yesterday, Brannan tweeted this:

In the video, Councilman Brannan bantered about the NCO program as if it was a success (click here to see the video above).  Isn’t there one person on Brannan’s staff who can be real with him and tell him this video isn’t helpful?  The NCO program had a year and it didn’t benefit the community.

In general, residents here don’t call the police. They let things go because this precinct has a history of not responding to calls. Years ago it was because they were understaffed, but now we have a lot more officers. Everyone knows that the precinct closes 311 calls – even when an officer doesn’t come out. 

Brannan and Senator Gounardes know patrols aren’t on the streets because people have complained about the continuous drag racing in the community.  See here and here.   

Last September, Commissioner O’Neill came out to Bay Ridge and said the police will do what is needed to make people feel safer, but there’s been no change here.  See here 

In Dyker Heights, people complain about strangers walking into their gated yards – yet, nothing is done to help them. Residents repeatedly report incidents like these trucks.  If we had patrol cars in the area, officers would have handled this and people wouldn’t be able to use our streets as a rest stop.

People who have tried calling the precinct are met with unanswered calls (the phone continues to ring and no one answers it). Residents don’t want to call 911 because everyone feels that is for emergencies. Burglaries go unreported because people know the police aren’t going to show up for hours, if at all.

Last Summer, when Councilman Brannan explained the area would be getting beat cops, people were hopeful. (See here) Yet, the NCO program is not beat cops.  NCO’s are for  communities in turmoil, where neighbors need mediator cops.  We need patrol cops here as this weeks statistics show home crimes are up:

For our community, the NCO program has become an e-mail program, where the police aren’t making the connections that the program was set up to do.   When the program rolled out last year, Chief Harrison said “They are going to be in the same area every single day”  (See here)  Harrison was right – the new officers are in the same area every day… they are at the police precinct responding to e-mails.

When a situation happened this Spring in our community, my husband reached out to the NCO’s by e-mail. He received a canned e-mail response saying there was an ongoing investigation, so they could not comment.   What good is that?  When a resident reported an issue about parking, she received this e-mail response from the NCO. While the response may be true (and we sympathize), that probably shouldn’t be in writing because it wasn’t helpful. 

Chief Harrison doesn’t communicate with the community well. Situations which should be shared with the community aren’t being shared until weeks later, even though a crime was committed. Parents need to be informed when there is someone dangerous in the community, so they can make decisions for their child’s safety.  On a regular basis, the 68th Precinct’s  tweets are about incidents from weeks ago – see here.  This is usual.  Mediation and communication from the community affairs officer isn’t satisfactory either  – see here.

For other communities, the NCO program is working because mediators were what those communities needed. Communication through e-mail just put more distance between the police and residents here. Our community needs patrol cars and beat cops. Eventually, we will get a leader who understands this.

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Henry Stewart’s Second Book Launch 8/13

On Tuesday, August 13, 2019 at 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM, there will be a book launch for How Bay Ridge Became Bay Ridge written by Henry Stewart at The Owl’s Head at 479 74th Street in Brooklyn. 

See Megan McGoldrick’s coverage of this event. 

You can read the first few pages of his book here. *Remember this book for history buffs on your Christmas list.

This is Stewart’s second book involving Bay Ridge. Stewart’s first book, True Crime: Bay Ridge was filled with exciting stories.  Both are available at the Bookmark Shoppe at 8415 – 3rd Avenue.

Stewart also recently launch The Bay Ridge Museum website – see here.

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Free Tennis Lessons for Kids at PS 264 in Bay Ridge

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BJs Membership –

If you were looking to join BJs Wholesale Club now has the Pay $50 – get $50 to spend in the store deal – see here

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MAGA Bomber Sentenced. Bay Ridge Mom was On His List

Cesar Sayoc, the man who was nicknamed the “MAGA Bomber” was sentenced to 20 years in jail today.

In 2018, Sayoc mailed pipe bombs to anti-Trump politicians.   See here

Today, Linda Sarsour revealed here that two days after Sayoc was arrested, the FBI went to her house and told her that she was on his list.  They had raided Sayoc’s home and found information about Sarsour – including her address –  in his home.  (Sarsour also shared this on Twitter)

AWFUL.

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(Update) Nicole was Found in Gravesend Park Alone

Update: Mother found! Nicole is back with her family Thank God.  

Police say a daycare bus driver failed to check his bus after his route Monday morning and left the bus.  Nicole let herself out of the van. See here  Both the bus driver and the matron were charged. See here

This 4-year-old girl, whose name is Nicole, was found at 9:30 am in Brooklyn today.

Her mother must be going crazy looking for her!  ABC News says she was found at 27th Avenue and Shore in Gravesend by a DEP worker. The police brought her to the hospital to be checked and then back to the park to see if they could get Nicole to tell them any more information.  Story here. 

On Twitter, they said little Nicole was found at Calvert Vaux Park. See here

The NYPD at 2860 West 23 Street says little Nicole was found alone on the Coney Island Boardwalk. They have Nicole at their station. Call 718- 265-7300.    See here

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Why Would Malliotakis Want Sean Spicer to Promote Her?

Sean Spicer, President Trump’s first press secretary is coming to Staten Island.

What was Nicole Malliotakis thinking when she asked Spicer to come to promote her candidacy? 

Will Spicer celebrate Malliotakis saying she regretted voting for President Trump? See here

Did Malliotakis’ statement of regret bring her  slim pickings in the Republican Party? 

This is the other side of the invitation….which has a strange look:

Also, mildly amusing is this social media exchange.

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Midwood Brooklyn – Child Hit by a Car

Don’t watch this video. A little girl got hit by a car as she crossed the street herself – it could hapeen to any parent – in seconds. She is in stable condition.

HORROR: Child struck by vehicle in #Midwood section of #Brooklyn on Monday at Kings Highway and East 2 Street. The child was in stable condition. pic.twitter.com/pd9oDjhtMI

— NYC Scanner (@NYScanner) August 5, 2019

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Snipes Sneaker Shop Moves Into 86th Street

Snipes sneaker store is coming to 478 – 86th Street in Bay Ridge (next to Claire’s). This was formerly a mattress store. 

It will be opening on Thursday, August 22nd at 9:45 am.  

They need an assistant manager – apply here

Snipes has more urban styles than Footlocker. The sneakers are more expensive there, but you can still get good sales and deals. There is a Snipes store in Sunset Park at 5019 5th Avenue.

Stores like Sephora, which are going to bring a lot more traffic to the area are coming!  

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Free Puppet Show in the Park – August 9th

On Friday, August 9th, the 62nd Precinct Community Council will sponsor a Marionette Puppet Show “Bessie’s Big Shot”  at Benson Playground from 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM.

Benson Playground is at Bay 22nd Street & Bath Avenue.

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Bay Ridge House Cleaner

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Family Energy Company Going Around Bay Ridge

Family Energy Company has come by twice asking me if I want to change my company.

Last time they came, I asked them to send me some information. Why is a second person coming to my house and acting like this is the first time they have come here?

I’m not going to make a decision on my stoop. 

I want to see what hidden fees there are. Yes, their $1.40 a day rate works out to $42 a month,  rather than charging by the kilowatt/hour  sounds good, but what other fees are there?  

Cheaper plans sound good, but there are always fees that no one mentions.

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