By Charles Hack
Things are moving in the 61st Precinct. Crime is down, new precinct council officers have been nominated and the chair has requested $50,000 to upgrade the parking lot next to the police station. Despite recent shootings and stabbings — reported in this newspaper — Commanding Officer Captain Vincent G. Stella said that crime has fallen in the 61st Precinct. Crime dropped 4.95 percent since last year, and 33.3 percent over the last four weeks, said Stella at the May 61st Precinct Council meeting held at the Bainbridge Adult Daycare Center at 3093 Ocean Avenue. Stella said there were 25 crimes two weeks ago, down from the average of 44 per week, said Stella. “There’s going to be weeks when we do [respond to] 60 or 70 crimes in a week,” Stella said. “It’s a roller coaster. Next time I might be saying we are up, but we will handle whatever comes along,” he said. “The cops did a great job,” said Stella. Most crimes are pick-pocketing and thefts of valuables from cars, Stella said. Recently a body was dumped in Plumb Beach, off the Belt Parkway. The victim had a long criminal history, and he had no connections with Brooklyn. The murder was not connected with the precinct, Stella said. “We are pretty confident that it did not have anything to do with this precinct, other than the people who killed this person left the body there,” Stella said. In other incidents, previously reported, two youths had skipped out of school on Cinco de Mayo and stabbed a 12-year-old youth six times on McDonald Avenue. He is recovering. A 16-year-old youth was stabbed twice and shot once. Mounted police arrested two accomplices of the attacker, Steller said. Another suspect was arrested in connection with two other recent homicides after he walked into work with a gun in his coat pocket. Meanwhile, the president of the 61st Precinct Community Council, Joe Foy, requested that Councilmember Michael Nelson solicit $50,000 from the City Council to repair the parking lot next to the 61st Precinct stationhouse at 2575 Coney Island Avenue. “If you go into that parking lot, it’s rather disgusting,” Foy said. “There is a tremendous amount of garbage. We had a couple of officers from the 61st Precinct go in and clean it up, but it is a perpetual problem. The pavement is very uneven and trees are growing through the pavement.” The money would also be used to resurface potholed pavement behind the station. The project would require approval from City Council and the mayor’s office, Foy said. “It’s a long process,” Foy said. “It won’t happen for at least a year.” The members also nominated their officers for the community council for the next two years. The nominations were Joe Foy, president; Yves Ettienne, vice president; Theresa Scarvo, treasurer; Uzma Harris; recording secretary; Bill Glassman, sergeant at arms; and Ruth Chapman, assistant secretary. A short vote must be held at next month’s meeting, even though there were no challenges, said Community Affairs Officer Sheila Shea of the 61st Precinct. To be eligible to cast a ballot, the voter must have attended at least three meetings from April of last year to March of this year.
