By Bob Harris
I recently attended the New York Police Department Queens Borough South Forum at York College. One of the community affairs officers from the 107th Precinct had called to ask if I and some of my civic association members wanted to attend this meeting. Milton Feld and Bill Buzzone from the West Cunningham Park Civic Association attended with me.
We drove to the 107th and one of their vans drove us to York College, which has a nice modern campus.
Also from our area were Jim and Yolanda Gallagher from the Fresh Meadows Homeowners Civic, Marc Haken from the Hilltop Village Coops, Jim Debonet from the Flushing Heights Civic and Shirley Weinstein from the Mid Queens Community Council and Aguilar Gardens.
On Oct. 30, 1997 my Civic Scene column was about the CPR (Courtesy, Professionalism and Respect) NYPD training session held for all south Queens police officers, with community residents in attendance, at Springfield Gardens High School. My son had come with me because he was interested in the law enforcement field.
There were a series of speakers on topics such as how police should act toward civilians, what prejudice was, and the 90-10 principle which was that since the police deal with the 10 percent of the community who are bad they must learn to listen to everyone. We then had a chance to talk to the officers of the 107th Precinct during a dialogue session.
At the York College forum the top brass made the presentations with Police Commissioner Howard Safir later answering questions. This was just after the Amadou Diallo jury verdict and Safir looked tired. Incidentally, the CPR training session back in 1997 took place just after the attack on Abner Louima.
This current forum was not a training session for the NYPD but a community relations activity.
There was a Crime Reduction Overview, a Presentation on CPR Testing and one on Force Related Testing, a presentation on youth programs and one on cultural diversity training. Then Safir answered questions from the audience.
A few facts seemed interesting. There are 6 million contacts each year between the police and the community. About 300,000 people are arrested by the police.
Of the crimes committed about a third are grand larceny auto and another third are burglaries.
Someone during the evening mentioned that the Rotary Club in the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica gives a plaque every month to an outstanding police officer in the name of Officer Ed Byrne, who was ordered killed by a drug dealer 12 years ago. It seems that Byrne had been assigned to guard the empty house of a person who had spoken out against drugs. To show his anger at the police the drug dealer had ordered a policeman killed and Byrne, sitting in his patrol car, was shot in the back of his head and killed.
I mention this fact because several civilians asked questions about the aggressive police actions in the Amadou Diallo killing. A few people were vocal. Safir answered that the anti-crime unit had been revised but is still functioning.
He also commented that when the police take aggressive action accidents can happen.
On the other hand if the police do little and crime is high then the residents of a community are unhappy. I believe a balance must be struck between aggressive police activities and the basic rights of the people in a community.
Each person attending the Forum received a folder containing several booklets. One card provided the number to call to report drug usage
