Safe Streets Program Reaches Abrupt Dead End

The City of New York unceremoniously made the decision earlier this month to eliminate the Safe Streets/Safe City anti-crime program at the end of the year due to citywide budget cuts. A termination date for the program had initially been set for June 2003.
The program, overseen by the Department for the Aging (DFTA) has been in operation since the early 1990s. The announcement will lead to the closing of 32 Safe Streets programs throughout the five boroughs.
Upwards of 1,000 senior citizens a year have been provided assistance through Safe Streets since the David Dinkins administration initiated it, when street crime was rampant in the city. Senior citizen victims of various crimes such as burglaries, assaults and lost property were provided with critical assistance and services. The program also promoted crime prevention awareness and assisted victims with counseling, therapy and paperwork.
Programs not considered to be providing "core services" have been hardest hit by recent budget cuts. Core service programs, like Meals on Wheels, will remain active.
A crime victim coordinator would make weekly visits to precincts to retrieve the names of crime victims over 60 years of age. The program arranged for home security surveys, where crime prevention officers would assess the seniors at risk living situations. The program would then provide any necessary security equipment to correct any dangers.
The program helped improve apartment security, installing door locks, window guards and other safety devices. Referrals to other appropriate social service agencies were provided as well.
Because the holidays are a time of increased crime against the elderly, the termination date of December 31 comes at the worst possible time of the year. "Theres no time left to assist any victims from December," added Jane Fiffer, Queens district director of the Jewish Association for Services for the Aging (JASA) who oversees the program in Community Districts 6 and 14 in Rego Park, Forest Hills and the Rockaways.
"Its going to be a big problem. Theres no other relief for these victims," said a concerned Fiffer.
Diane Baumgarten, a supervisor of crime victim programs for JASA, which administers the programs for DFTA, expressed concern for the elderly victims, many of whom live alone and dont have anyone to support them. "At least with our program, they had someone to show that they cared," she said.
The sudden termination of funding for the program has left its administrators with nowhere else to turn, and no time to do anything about it. "We could have reached out to private organizations for grants," Baumgarten said. "That may have kept us at least partially open."
Baumgarten emphasized that crime prevention was one of the programs main goals. Counselors went to senior centers, libraries or anywhere they could teach seniors how to protect themselves. "We showed them how to be more aware of the world around them," Baumgarten explained.
According to Baumgarten, many seniors dont know that there are social service agencies available to help them. "The crime would open the doors to that information." But without the Safe Streets program, many will remain unaware of the support available to them.
One of the agencies forced to end the program is the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizen Council (RBSCC) in Glendale, Queens. RBSCC, in Community Board 5, works in conjunction with the 104th Police Precinct in Queens and the 83rd Precinct in Brooklyn to provide crime victim assistance and crime prevention services to senior citizens.
In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2002, RBSCC assisted 353 senior victims, paying out just over $3,000, and installed $12,000 worth of security devices and performed nearly 60 home security surveys.
Each of the 32 program sponsors received approximately $75,000 annually. All costs of running the program, including staff salaries, were paid out of that stipend.
"Senior citizens should be outraged at this turn of events," said Roseann Rosado, director of the RBSCC Queens Multi Service, about what she calls an "ill-fated decision." She vows to restore quality-of-life services to "vulnerable" seniors.