I find it comical that, on any given day, an average of five or six police officers are assigned to a single subway station, presumably to check people’s bags. Typically, one officer will do the checking while the others stand around chatting and looking official.
It is comical because if I were to ask NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly why this wasteful and inefficient practice continues, I think his only plausible answer would be that it takes this many officers to guard the turnstiles in case anyone jumps them.
Surely there must be more effective ways to deploy New York’s Finest. For example, 23rd Avenue in Astoria is graffiti−strewn, scofflaw−ridden and looks like the Bronx in the 1970s — I know because I lived there back then.
Foot patrols do much to deter crime before it happens, build necessary bonds between police and the community and make neighborhood residents feel like someone cares.
Our local public officials should push for cops on the beat in Astoria. A densely packed and fast−decaying neighborhood like this one cannot be saved without the kind of police presence that works.
John Borrillo
Astoria
