By Ivan Pereira
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown told members of Community Board 12 that although he has a large staff to handle thousands of criminal cases a year, it is feedback from residents that helps him bring justice more efficiently to the borough.
The DA lent his ear to southeast Queens residents to further improve his services during the board’s monthly meeting in St. Albans April 21.
Brown, who grew up in Cambria Heights, said the neighborhood has been prone to crime over the last couple of decades, but because he and his fellow prosecutors have made efforts to get to know what is on the minds of the people in the area, they have made significant progress in keeping the streets safe.
“We are an office that has the respect in the community,” said the DA, who has been in office for 19 years. He became the longest service district attorney in the borough’s history in March.
Brown noted his office handled 78,000 cases last year ranging from burglaries to identity theft. One of the growing crime trends his office has seen is housing fraud. The DA said his economic crimes bureau, which is made up of 10 assistant district attorneys, has been overseeing a lot of cases in which homeowners were forced to foreclose their properties due to scams and predatory lending.
Brown said he has been working hard to not only punish those responsible for the crimes, but also to help those affected, predominantly the elderly.
“What we are trying hard to do is deliver a level of retribution for victims of mortgage fraud,” he said.
Southeast Queens neighborhoods, including Jamaica, St. Albans and Springfield Gardens, lead the state in the number of foreclosures, according to CB 12.
Brown said he had some concern about the future of his office’s budget. City cuts have reduced the number of staff he has hired and those prosecutors go a long way in fighting crime, according to Brown.
“Before 9/11, we had 360 assistant district attorneys. Now we have close to 300,” he said.
Financial problems were on the mind of the board’s chairwoman, Adjoa Gzifa, during the meeting as well.
Gzifa spoke out against the city’s proposal to slash the budget of the community boards from $200,000 to $144,000. The chair said such cuts would be devastating to southeast Queens residents since there would be less staff and resources to attend to their needs.
At the same time, Gzifa said the upcoming revisions to the City Charter could diminish the power of the community boards to the point where they could not influence city laws and regulations, such as street zoning.
She urged board members and residents to make their voices heard and tell the city how important the community boards are to their quality of life.
“It’s our responsibility that we have a strong presence,” she said.
Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4546.
