By Howard Koplowitz
Flanked by Redfern residents and family members of young murder victims who were killed at the Far Rockaway housing project, City Councilman James Sanders (D-Laurelton) announced Monday that he had secured $2 million to install security cameras throughout the development.
The councilman also said he would lead civilian patrols throughout Redfern during the “worst time” of night, when there is the most risk for violence.
“We're walking because we're tired of the loss of Dimples, Stack Bundles and others,” Sanders said, referring to the nicknames of 15-year-old Brandon Bethea, who was killed at Redfern by a stray bullet in May, and 24-year-old Rayquan Elliot, who was a promising rap star when he was murdered at the projects last year.
Sanders said the city Housing Authority would use the $2 million to set up cameras that the agency presently has in the city's 10 worst housing projects, but he called the cameras a “passive system” because authorities take tapes from the cameras the day after an incident occurs.
He was pushing for what he called cameras with “gunshot technology,” which the councilman said can determine where gunfire is coming from and instantaneously take a picture of a gun going off. He said such cameras can distinguish sounds, such as the difference between a car backing up, fireworks and gunshots.
“Within two seconds, they got you smiling in the candid camera with your gun in hand,” Sanders said.
But Gregory Bethea, Brandon's father, was skeptical of the cameras being a mainstay at Redfern.
“This is a temporary pacifier,” Bethea said, noting that it takes $70,000 just to maintain the cameras and three to four months to link them to the precinct. “It's fool's gold, as they would say.”
Doris Jacobs, the Redfern Tenants Association president, said she believed the cameras would be a deterrent to crime.
“I think it would cut down on some of the violence,” said Jacobs, who had been asking for cameras at Redfern for eight years. “I think it will help tremendously.”
Glen Johnson, a Bronx man who said he frequently visits his sister in Redfern, said the tenants constantly live in fear.
“Nobody knows who's going to be shooting in the next 10 minutes,” Johnson said. “We might need the National Guard in here to walk to the stores.”
But Jacobs said the residents get a bad rap.
“I'm not afraid to walk around,” she said. “We got a lot of good people who live and work here. You got good people everywhere and the majority of people here are. You have to look at the good stuff, too.”
Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 173.
