WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES MAY 23, 2019 3
New 104th boss hears
gripes on homeless
Captain Victoria Perry, newly appointed to the 104th Precinct.
Photo: Mark Hallum/QNS
BY MARK HALLUM
MHALLUM@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
Captain Victoria Perry may be
new to the 104th Precinct, but the
15-year NYPD veteran is picking
up where others left off on address two
issues in the command.
Free-wheeling youth on ATVs
and dirt bikes, as well as a group
of homeless men making a literal
muck on Putnam Avenue are two
of the main discussion topics at the
Tuesday night Community Council
meeting.
Perry’s explanation for why the
young people continue to roam the
streets and paths in and around
Forest Park is that they’re difficult
to stop. Giving chase could mean
provoking the riders into more
reckless behavior, so the surest
way to stop them is for the public
to report where the all-terrain
vehicles are being stored.
NYPD also placed more barriers
around Forest Park to inhibit
access for some vehicles and Perry
hopes to get the drop on meet-ups
by monitoring social media.
“The last four years, we’ve
had a problem with numerous
homeless drinking, using our
block as a toilet, garbage being
thrown around, fighting, they
get so drunk they pass out.
Ambulance gets there at least
once a day, I actually call it
their limousine ride,” said Scott
Wilson, a Ridgewood resident, at
the May 21 session. “Officers do
come, they try to move them, but
after officers leave they come
right back.”
Perry said the precinct and
the Neighborhood Coordination
Officers would work on work to
address what they could, but that
the issue is a job for programs that
specialize in helping the homeless
such Hungry Monk Rescue Truck.
“That’s something that we’re
trying to address,” Perry said. “It’s
not just the 104th, it’s a nationwide
problem that they’re having with
the homeless … We have our
homeless outreach on it, we have
Bowery Residents’ Committee,
we’ve done a lot of work with Father
Mike Lopez, we’re going to doing
everything as well as your NCOs.”
One attendee told the story about
how a confrontation with one of
the men resulted in the cops being
called on him.
“There’s schools on every block,
I got three kids and the thing is
when I try to take it into my hands
one time they called the police on
me because I came out with a bat
as a dude was taking a crap right
next to the minivan,” he said. “I was
putting my daughter inside, he’s
got his pants down to his knees. My
daughter is 4 years old; she doesn’t
need to see that.”
Perry said if cops are not at the
location when incidents like this
occur, they may not be able to
resolve anything and suggested
residents contact their NCOs.
“We can’t force them to take
services,” Perry said.
Father Mike Lopez said his
organization has serviced the
homeless men in this area of
Putnam and Forest Avenue, and
claimed that a lot of them are
living in shelters. But some of the
men who loiter in that area are not
homeless at all, he claims.
“A lot of the guys drinking
in public and look like they’re
homeless are not homeless; they
just hang out with them together,”
Lopez said.
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