The 104th Precinct Civilian Observation Patrol (G-COP) held its monthly general membership meeting on Jan. 8 and announced that due to the fact the NYPD in Queens has officially encrypted their radios from civilians, the organization has ceased patrols indefinitely. At the meeting hall in Atlas Park located in Glendale, President Elizabeth Delacruz stated that operations have been on hold for two weeks now, since the radios were first encrypted, and will remain paused due to safety concerns for G-COP members.
“We, the Civilian Patrol, cannot listen anymore to what’s going on at the precinct. We cannot know if there’s a shootout, if there’s any robberies, or anything like that,” Delacruz said. “We are civilians, and we cannot go out there without knowing where we’re driving the state laws. We have to always hear what’s going on with the precinct in order for us to avoid any situation that can jeopardize our lives.”
According to the NYPD public patrol guide, sanction neighborhood watch organizations like the 104th G-COP exist to “enforce the law, preserve peace, protect the people, reduce fear and maintain order.” On top of traditionally patrols around the neighborhood to report law-breaking to the 104th Precinct, oftentimes the G-COP will act as auxiliary security for crowd control around the holidays or at events, such as the Glendale/Ridgewood Veterans Day Parade, which in turn frees up officers to continue their duties else where.
G-Cop is one of the longest running civilian observation patrols within New York City, founded over 45 years ago by longtime Queens Community Board 5 Member Vincent Arcuri. Since then, plenty of other organizations have come and gone, but G-COP’s long-standing good relationship with its local precinct has kept it alive and serving the community. State Sen. Joseph P Addabbo Jr. appreciates the volunteers’ work and has been an active supporter, allocating $20,000 from the state to the group in 2025 and assisting them in purchasing the radios for their patrols.
“I hate to see them lose a good partner… more eyes and ears and a good partner in the community like G-COP,” Addabbo said. “I think it behooves the NYPD and the 104th Precinct to try and figure out an alternative and keep [G-COP] working with them.”
The NYPD began the process of encrypting their radios in 2023, slowly but surely rolling out the technology to every borough and finally reaching Eastern Queens. The lack of encryption allowed those with their own radios or police scanners to listen in to police frequencies, giving the more intelligent criminals a warning when the jig was up. Car meetups and street racers often used their own radios to flee the area before police arrived. The state legislature passed a bill, known as the Keep Police Radio Public Act, in December to put in place an exception for members of the press to continue reporting on crime. However, the Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed the bill just days before Christmas.
“While transparency is laudable, it should not come at the expense of public safety…. Municipalities remain free to make their own decisions as to whether to prohibit their police forces from encrypting radio transmissions,” Hochul stated in her veto memo.
The City Council approved the upgrades in 2021, costing taxpayers around $20 million, and has officially completed the expansion as of late 2025. The choice to encrypt drew criticism from more than just journalists and neighborhood watches, with even EMS technicians being blocked from listening. While the public is still currently blocked from the NYPD’s airwaves, as of now, representatives of the police, Delacruz, Addabbo and other officials are working on giving the civil observation patrols some sort of access to continue on with their work.
“The 104th Precinct has an exceptional relationship with the GCOP. The 104th Precinct has been in contact with them concerning the encrypted radios and are working towards solutions for functional radios,” said a spokesperson for the Deputy Commissioner of Public Information (DCPI).
