Call For Community Involvement At 102nd Pct.
Boosting the community’s communication with local police and ongoing efforts to reduce crime were hot topics addressed by the 102nd Precinct’s commanding officer during the 102nd Precinct Community Council’s Feb. 21 meeting at Moose Hall in Richmond Hill.
“The 102nd Precinct, with limited resources, is doing extremely well,” reported Deputy Inspector Armando DeLeon, adding that the command took particular pride in a sharp reduction in homicides during 2011. Just one murder occurred last year as compared to the 15 homicides that took place in 2009, during which DeLeon was assigned to the precinct as its commander.
He credited the drop in homicides and other crime to changing the patrol’s approach to resolving problems, including better interaction with the community, “focused enforcement” in high crime areas and a greater emphasis on resolving qual- ity of life nuisances before they develop into worse problems.
“We try to take care of the little things so it doesn’t balloon into a bigger issue,” DeLeon said.
Even so, the commander stressed that more residents need to be willing to reach out to the precinct and the community council and voice their concerns and active problems in the community.
“Unless people on your block don’t call 911 or come to the meeting, I can’t know about” crime problems, he said. “This room should be full-standing room only-of residents letting me know what’s going on.”
Some residents in attendance suggested that the community council should make a greater effort to publicize upcoming meetings. Simcha Waisman of the Richmond Hill Block Association offered that the group ought to consider advertising the meeting in area publication.
Maria Thomson, president of the community council, observed that residents generally attend council meetings only if there is a problem on their block and stop attending once the matter has been settled with police action.
“You address the problem, and people disappear,” she told DeLeon. “And that’s why we don’t have a lot of people attending our meetings, because the problem has been solved.”
The commander noted that the precinct does what it can to get the word out about public safety issues in areas experiencing spikes in crime. Citing one example, he noted that members of the 102nd Precinct’s Auxiliary Unit were dispatched to Kew Gardens recently to disseminate crime prevention fliers to area residents alerting them to a recent rash of burglaries.
“When there is a spike in crime in any one area, I flood the area with [auxiliary officers] and hand out alerts,” he noted. “We try to get the word out.”
Relief from ‘house of headaches’
Representatives of two local Assembly members reported that action is being taken to evict squatters residing in a foreclosed home on Park Lane South in Richmond Hill who have been a nuisance to neighbors in recent months.
During the community council’s January meeting, as reported previously in the Times Newsweekly, residents living near the home on Park Lane South near 102nd Street complained that the vagrants had been creating a number of quality-of-life problems such as noise stemming from loud arguments. There were also allegations that the squatters were drinking heavily and using drugs.
Scott Wolf, speaking on behalf of Assemblyman Michael Simanowitz, stated that the office contacted a holding company which was determined to be the true owner of the house and helped launch an eviction proceeding. “Hopefully, if they’re not out by now, they (the squatters) will be out soon,” he concluded.
Nick Roloson, representing Assemblyman Mike Miller, added that the lower level of the residence has been vacated, and an order has been placed to have the structure’s windows boarded to prevent the squatters from returning.
Deputy Inspector DeLeon thanked both assemblymen for their involvement in having the problems at the Park Lane South home addressed, adding that “hopefully brings a better quality of life to the block.”
Other crime news
Robberies rose over the last 28- day period that concluded on Feb. 19, DeLeon said, with 21 incidents taktwo ing place; during the same time a year ago, just 12 holdups were reported.
“Twelve robberies for a fourweek period was unbelievably low,” he explained, pointing out that the precinct has averaged between 21 and 25 robberies for that time over the last five years. He attributed the low number recorded in 2011 to inclement weather which occurred during that period.
As for the holdups that took place this year, none of the incidents appear to be related or are part of an active pattern, he noted.
With spring approaching, DeLeon warned that “this is the time of year when we see a spike in burglaries.” He urged all residents to take extra precautions to secure their doors and windows when leaving their home, adding that leaving any entryway unlocked “makes it easier for a burglar to invade your home.”
The commander also advised drivers to keep all property, from valuable high-tech items to even small amounts of currency, out of parked vehicles: “If they see 50 cents, they will break your $200 window to get it.”
Sherman Kane of Woodhaven asked DeLeon to increase efforts to crackdown on the illegal overnight parking of trucks along Woodhaven Boulevard near Forest Park. Some of the rigs, he noted, have been there “for weeks at a time.” The commander said that he would send officers to investigate.
Cop of the Month
P.O. Joseph Herbst of the 102nd Precinct’s Conditions Unit was honored as Cop of the Month for tracking down a pair of robbery suspects in Woodhaven in January.
DeLeon noted that Herbst and his partner responded to a report of two suspects who robbed a person at the corner of 76th Street and 88th Avenue on Jan. 27. Shortly after arriving at the scene and obtaining information about the perpetrators, Herbst collared one of the suspects in the vicinity of the crime scene; the other robber crossed over the Brooklyn/ Queens border into Cypress Hills.
Upon further investigation, law enforcement sources said, Herbst obtained the second suspect’s cell phone number and called him to request that he turn himself in. DeLeon noted that the perpetrator, believing that the call was a prank, reported it to a nearby patrol officer in the 75th Precinct.
The 75th Precinct officer subsequently took the second suspect into custody after calling Herbst back and learning about the robbery, DeLeon said.
Herbst was presented by the deputy inspector and Thomson with a plaque donated by the Times Newsweekly for his work.
A satellite station?
Thomson noted that she recently read a report about the potential creation of satellite stations within the 107th and 109th precincts in order for police to boost patrols within their respective confines.
“We have quite a big precinct,” she said, suggesting that the creation of a similar substation for the 102nd Precinct might be an idea worth considering.
Murray Berger of the Kew Gardens Civic Association, on the other hand, suggested that the community council should instead continue its effort to boost the number of officers assigned to the precinct.
“We need more police to cover the area,” he said. “We don’t need more buildings and overhead.” He went on to observe that “it doesn’t matter that they have a building a half-mile or a mile and a half away. We could use more cops, not more buildings.”
Deputy Inspector DeLeon, when asked about the roster’s size and its affect on the patrol, indicated that “the 102nd Precinct is doing the best job it can do with the resources that it has.”
After hearing feedback, Thomson noted that the she would continue to press ranking NYPD officials and elected representatives about increase the staff and patrol cars stationed at the precinct.
The next 102nd Precinct Community Council meeting is scheduled to take place on Tuesday night, Mar. 20, at 8 p.m. at the Moose Hall located on 118th Street south of Jamaica Avenue in Richmond Hill. For more information, call the 102nd Precinct Community Affairs Unit at 1-718-805-3215.
