Queens Council member Robert Holden sent a letter to Mayor Eric Adams urging him to invest in a capital project that would renovate many of the old, run-down police precincts in his district and surrounding it.
According to Holden, many police precincts are outdated, having been built in the 1930s, and need to be updated.
“As neighborhoods grew and expanded, too many police precincts operated out of the same buildings with minimal upgrades,” Holden wrote in the letter to Adams.
Holden played to Adams’ experience as an NYPD officer, arguing the mayor should know this issue first-hand.
“As you know from experience, an NYPD officer has one of the toughest jobs in the city,” Holden wrote. “Maintaining a positive mental attitude, day after day, can be challenging. While some aspects of the job cannot change, we, as elected officials, can ensure police are working in a space that supports mental and physical wellbeing of officers and victims of crime.”
Holden proposed the mayor establish a task force to review the poor conditions of city precincts and find a way to modernize the infrastructure. After touring his own district’s precinct, the 104th, he learned that victims of domestic violence meet with police officers under a stairwell in the basement.
According to Kevin Ryan, Holden’s communications director, the whole precinct needs to be “flipped upside down.”
“They need a clean, healthy, well-lit environment to work in,” Ryan said. “Also, it should be nicer and more welcoming for civilians who work there or visit.”
Ryan said that Holden frequently visits the precincts in his district to meet and support the officers, especially after the recent tragic murders of officers Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora.
“With so many elected officials attacking our police, he knows it’s important for them to know that many in the community still appreciate them,” Ryan said. “He noticed the conditions while visiting and wanted to help.”
