Chief Steven Silks, borough
cop, mourned after suicide
great deal of energy and seriousness,”
said Fahey, adding that when Silks
ran the Rodman’s Neck facility he was
always advocating for better equipment
for to keep police offi cers safe.
Fahey said that the cause of the
chief’s action remains “a tragedy and
a mystery.”
He said he spoke to him about a
week earlier because friends told him
he had sounded depressed, and at that
point Silks indicated that he felt he
had things he still wanted to do.
“I didn’t realize the separation
anxiety was as deep as it was,” said
Fahey.
“If you ever called him and needed
him he would be there in a heartbeat,
said Fahey, adding “We would have
loved if he had always called someone
up and said ‘look, I’m having a problem.’”
Stephen Albanese, a second grade
detective in the NYPD’s fi rearms unit
and the former department gunsmith,
said that when Silks arrived to command
the Rodman’s Neck range he
immersed himself in learning about
fi rearms, holsters, vests, and training
in order to make police offi cers
safer by providing them with the best
equipment possible and pushing manufactures
to correct defects.
“He was really concerned with
cops as far as training went,” said Albanese.
“He was really interested in
what was good for the police offi cer.”
He immersed himself so much, recalled
Albanese, that manufacturers
of weapons and safety gear would seek
out his advice.
He was dedicated to making sure
that if a police offi cer was involved in
a situation, his or her fi rearm worked
100 percent of the time, said Albanese.
Albanese said that he was devastated
by the news.
Both Silk’s friend Lou Palumbo
and Stanton said they would invite
the chief over their homes on holidays
like Thanksgiving and Christmas because
they knew he would be alone.
Palumbo described Silks as smart
and highly evolved.
“He was highly intelligent and
probably would have been successful
in any career he had chosen,” said
Palumbo. “He was just a good soul.”
Palumbo said there were none of
the warning signs that can sometimes
lead to cops taking their lives: no problems
with marriages or fi nances, no
kids with drug habits, and no scandals.
“He said he was having separation
anxiety and I said why don’t you talk
to someone,” said Palumbo, adding
he believes that the chief, who lived
alone and didn’t have a wife, children
or family who lived nearby, may have
lost perspective with his life.
S
Longwood drug rehab plan stirs community opposition
of programs, said Ralph
Acevedo, CB 2 district
manager.
It offered to help the
provider fi nd an alternate
location, but Light of
Hope refused to change its
plans, said Acevedo.
“We were not saying
‘not in our backyard,’” said
Acevedo. “We were tying
to say let’s fi nd somewhere
else more appropriate.”
Acevedo said the board
felt that Dawson Street
and Intervale Avenue, two
densely populated streets,
was the wrong location for
a transitional program.
“Light of Hope was just
not willing work with us,”
said the district manger.
“We know the state makes
the ultimate call, we just
hope that everything is
taken into consideration.”
The committee in its
letter cited a new senior
residence in the immediate
area, four supportive
housing programs in a
three-block radius, a substance
abuse provider one
block away, and a needle
exchange program two
blocks away, as evidence
that the area was saturated.
“Although…the clients
will be on 24-hour
lock down, the committee
strongly feels that this
part of the district is oversaturated
with support
services and the committee
needs to account for
the community interest,”
stated the committee in its
letter to OASAS.
Councilman Rafael
Salamanca said that he believes
it is only right that
other communities in the
borough shoulder these
types of programs as well.
“Not everyone that is
addicted to opioids is from
the south Bronx; it is a borough
wide and citywide
issue,” said Salamanca.
“They come from Throggs
Neck, Morris Park and
Riverdale, but the programs
are in my district.”
The Light of Hope program
will operate by referral,
meaning the patients
may not necessarily
live in the community or
even the borough, said
Salamanca.
The councilman said
that the proposed program
was already rejected
by Community Board 1 before
the new site was chosen.
Guillermina Martinez
of Light of Hope said that
they were siting the program
where it was most
needed.
“We can’t continue to
deny the facts of the drug
epidemic in our back
yard,” said Martinez.
In a written statement,
the organization took issue
with the committee’s
treatment of their proposal,
indicating that it
was not given the consideration
it should have gotten.
T
he organization’ statement
urged CB 2 to reconsider,
stating that its primary
intent is to return
those affl icted by addiction
back to full and productive
lives.
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