Police Need Community Involvement to Curb Gun Violence

Police say that with gun crimes they almost never find a witness--but about 30% of gun arrests have been due to community involvement. This was the push behind Council Member Mathieu Eugene's somewhat last-minute public forum that was held Monday night in the auditorium of Middle School 2 on Parkside Avenue. Held in response to the recent spike in gun violence our area of Brooklyn has seen (including the shooting that occurred earlier that day), also in attendance were commanding officers from the 67th, 70th, and 71st Precincts, as well as several elected officials. Some of those attending were:

Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs
State Senator Eric Adams
Council Member Letitia James (briefly)
Deputy Chief Steve Bonano, Brooklyn South
Deputy Inspector Eric Rodriguez, 70th Precinct
Deputy Inspector Peter Simonetti, 71st Precinct
Captain Jeff Schiff, 67th Precinct Impact Unit Commanding Officer
Inspector Chuck Scholl, 67th Precinct
Pastor Gilford Monroe, President of 67th Precinct Clergy Council

There were several representatives from Community Board 17 as well, but, as far as I could tell, none from any other CB, including CB 14. No list of all the officials and organizations in attendance was made available, so this is certainly not a complete list. However, neither Borough President Marty Markowitz nor Representative Yvette Clarke were present as was advertised they would be.

Scheduled to begin at 6pm, the forum didn't actually get going until 6:45pm. Frustratingly, the event was sparsely attended by maybe 40 or 50 people--despite the fact that the forum was organized to address crime in neighborhoods spanning three police precincts. This seemed due, at least in part, to the forum having been announced only a couple of days in advance. This was one of a few frustrations I (and clearly others) had with the event.

Along with its late start time, nearly the first hour and a half was occupied by speeches and thank-you's from the officials present. This was not unwarranted as a lot of good information (and--surprisingly--inspiration) was shared, but there was a clear sense that everyone had to have their say when not everyone actually had something substantive to say.



After a welcome by Council Member Eugene in which he thanked the audience for coming "for all of our children and our children's children," the moderator, Michelle Bronson of CB 17, initially wanted to move to the police officers, but was "reminded" that she needed to begin with the other civilian officials. While many of the speeches were filled with more platitudes than concrete information, there were some useful things said.

The ubiquitous Council Member James, whose district does not cover Brooklyn South but does encompass a portion of the 71st Precinct, began by briefly defining what would become the theme of the evening before having to leave for a meeting about landmarking in Fort Greene. After explaining that the forum had been organized as a result of a meeting of the Nostrand Avenue Merchants Association and that she was working on several initiatives that would affect our area--like putting more cameras/police on the street and creating more block associations/block watches - she told the audience, "It is our duty as a community to snitch on each other."

This was echoed later by Deputy Chief Bonano, saying that in the case of gun crimes, "we almost never find a witness." All of the police officers who spoke underplayed the importance of statistics and emphasized the importance of community involvement. Some statistics were given, but they were delivered somewhat quickly and confusingly--recent CompStat reports can be found on the precinct websites (67th, 70th, and 71st). However, some facts shared that are not on the reports:

* Guns confiscated on the street in the 67th Precinct over Labor Day Weekend included: .22 calibres, .32 calibres, .38 calibres, .40 calibres, 9mm, and even an AK-47.

* Captain Schiff estimated that 30% of gun arrests were due to community involvement.

While we don't reside in the 67th, it would be foolish to think that the presence of guns and violence in our neighboring precinct is not affecting the violence that we are seeing in ours. Take a look at the clip below from the most rousing speech of the evening in which State Senator Adams emphasized the goal of eliminating guns where they are, rather than pushing them onto other blocks and neighborhoods.

http://youtu.be/4Qhb0wLRw2w

All of the officials pleaded with citizens to get involved and to help the police. It would have been useful to hand out a list of resources, but some suggestions mentioned during speeches were:

* Get on your precinct's email list (see post about this for the 70th Precinct from yesterday). Captain Schiff claimed there were 3,000 people on the 67th's list.

* Attend monthly precinct meetings: 70th Precinct community council meetings are usually held on the last Wednesday of each month at 175 Lawrence Avenue at 7:30 p.m.

* Know who the police commanders are in your precinct: 70th Precinct's CO is Deputy Inspector Eric Rodriguez.

Mostly, they need people to report what they see.

The audience questions only began around 7:40pm, so I was unable to hear more than three or four of them before leaving around 8:15pm. However, the ones that I did hear predominantly voiced frustration with the police.

A retired MS2 teacher politely pleaded with the panel to give the community more time to voice their concerns at forums like this and that "I don't need to hear your resumes."

Another woman was surprisingly calm in explaining how her son was routinely ignored by officers at the 67th when trying to report violence (Captain Schiff apologized and promised to follow up personally with her).

A man from the Caribbean American Weekly brought up the recent detainment of Council Member Jumaane Williams in confronting the officers about racial profiling in their districts. In responding, Inspector Scholl refused to address that specific incident as it is under investigation and insisted that racial profiling is not tolerated when it is found to have occurred.

The end result was that the forum--at least the two hours I was there--unfortunately met the expectation most of us have for events like it. It felt more like a political exercise than a genuine opportunity for dialogue. This does not, however, make the forum's message any less relevant. It is possible to improve our neighborhoods, but in order to do that, residents need to engage with their community, their police force, and their local government officials. We need to engage. This means:

Showing up physically: Attending meetings and forums like this one, even if they are frustratingly ineffective sometimes. When attendance is low, the blame can be put on the community for not "caring enough." Simply being present is an effective message.

Showing up vocally: Put pressure on officials to make dialogue more effective. If you couldn't attend the forum but wanted to, make sure to call Council Member Eugene's office (718-287-8762 or mathieu.eugene@council.nyc.gov) and let him know why. Our representatives not only need to hear about our issues, but about the ways in which they listen (or don't) to us. Our area has a lot of residents who work freelance/odd hours; we don't live in a straight 9-5 work world anymore. There's no reason our representatives can't adapt to this. They simply need to be aware that they have to.

Showing up emotionally and mentally: Frustrating as the process is (and cliche as this sounds), we have to care. As the forum participants repeatedly pointed out, this area is vastly safer than it was even a decade ago. Those of you who have been here since then helped that happen. Regardless of how you feel about the direction of the neighborhood culturally and economically, it is unimaginable that you're okay with even a low level of gun activity in your neighborhood.

Because of Rosh Hashanah next week, tonight is the 70th Precinct community council meeting at 7:30pm. After that, they normally occur on the last Wednesday of the month. Put it in your calendar. Get on their email list. Please show up.