By Shanna Fuld and Sadef Ali Kully
A Queens Village community memoriam for Eric Garner, who died from a police chokehold last year, was held at the New Greater Bethel Ministries bookstore on Jamaica Avenue to discuss the impact of his death on the area and the new NYPD neighborhood policing efforts that are gradually taking place across the borough.
Only a handful of community members and religious leaders were joined by NYPD Inspector Michael Coyle from the 105th Precinct in Queens Village to show support and speak about raising awareness, gaining trust and stronger communication with residents.
Under the new policing program, every single officer in the Police Department will undergo training under the supervision of a veteran officer.
“The training is important. The old school way was to put you in a hot spot and write tickets. Maybe you’ve been with very few black people and you’re dropped in southeast Queens. You have a bad impression. That carries over to everybody you see,” said Rev. Dr. John Boyd for the New Greater Bethel Ministries.
Boyd pointed out that if a police officer gets started working in a tough neighborhood, his or her attitudes toward the job could be soured, but having the inspector of the 105th Precinct showed attend showed that the community mattered.
“It was wonderful that the inspector came himself. You felt like he was talking heart. I’m big on heart,” Boyd said.
Coyle said the new police changes have already begun at the 105th Precinct, which services communities along the Nassau border from Little Neck through Queens Village and down to Rochdale village and Springfield Gardens. The precinct has just gotten 18 new officers.
He said the traditional way of utilizing new officers was to place them in crime-ridden neighborhoods. The new way will be to have the officers placed everywhere, despite a high or low crime rate, so they get to know the residents they police in the jurisdiction.
The July 15 event took place the day before the first anniversary of Garner’s death in Staten Island. Rev. Fred Simmons of the Greater Springfield Community Church was skeptical about the $5.9 million settlement the Garner family received from the city comptroller’s office to compensate for his death.
“From the community standpoint, it’s always skeptical when someone from law enforcement is overseeing law enforcement. Is it true? It should be people from local diversity sitting at a table in a neutral source — a judge, a lawyer. In the end it’s still them watching them,” Simmons said.
Ali Najmi, an activist and lawyer, also voiced his interest in new law enforcement methods as a response to the Garner case. He said he favored the chokehold bill which would turn the practice into a misdeamnor crime, written by Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Hillcrest) and implementing body cameras for officers.
“Pastor Boyd and I came together hoping to really acknowledge the death to help us bring the community together to learn from that experience. It had a citywide impact,” Najmi said.
Reach Reporter Sadef Ali Kully by e-mail at skull
