20 THE QUEENS COURIER • MARСH 5, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
SE Queens residents voice public safety concerns
at St. Albans town hall with NYPD commissioner
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Southeast Queens community leaders
and residents packed the Th e Robert
Ross Johnson Life Center in St. Albans
Th ursday night for a town hall discussion
with new NYPD Commissioner Dermot
Shea, who made his fi rst appearance in
the community to address public safety
issues and concerns.
City Council members Donovan
Richards, Adrienne Adams, and Daneek
Miller were joined by Assemblyman
Clyde Vanel, Acting Queens Borough
President Sharon Lee, and the NYPD
Patrol Borough Queens South at the
church, located at 172-17 Linden Blvd.
“We know that the NYPD is one of our
strongest partners responsible to protect
the community,” Adams said. “We look
forward to continuing a positive partnership
and as new leadership has come in,
we are looking forward to progression
and not regression.”
Shea, who has been a member of the
NYPD for 29 years, reiterated the importance
of working together continuing to
strengthen police and community relationships
to combat quality-of-life issues
in the neighborhood.
“When you talk about where we are in
this city tonight, I think we are in a very
good place,” Shea said. “Th ere is a lot
going on, but we’re going to get through
it together, and the right way. We have to
carefully balance, as we have for the last
six years.”
As the fl oor opened up for the question
and answer segment of the town hall, residents
didn’t hesitate to voice their concerns
to the commissioner.
According to an audience member,
there have been fi ve shootings within
the past two weeks on the peninsula.
Th e spike of violence in the Rockaways
regarding hate crimes and shootings has
prompted the NYPD’s 100th and 101st
precincts to work diligently and eff ectively
with the community.
NYPD 101st Precinct Commanding
Offi cer Eric Robinson said the borough
has been heavily involved with daily conference
calls with offi cials while policing
with precision.
In response to hate crimes across the
city, Shea said, “It’s time for people to call
out what we see — whether it’s speech on
the internet or people marching. It comes
with a lot of responsibility, and when people
are professing stuff that is wrong, we’re
safe.”
Th e youngest resident in the room,
9-year-old Amaryllis Greene, cited past
events of pedestrians struck by motorists,
recalling a woman who was hit by an outof
control vehicle on Sutphin Boulevard
and Jamaica Avenue.
“Th ese safety issues and concerns need
to be addressed as I and children my age
of the future need to be safe,” Greene said.
Shea noted the importance of everyone
to always be vigilant in their surroundings,
Amaryllis Greene, 9, asks the NYPD commissioner a question regarding
speeding motorists, homelessness on the MTA, and mental illness.
such as driving safely and keeping
an eye out for pedestrians, especially
children.
“All of the precinct commanders closely
analyze all of the accidents to make
sure we are doing everything possible to
make sure our offi cers are addressing anyone
that is driving in manners that they
shouldn’t be driving,” Shea said.
Resident Manny Martinez stressed the
trespassing of homeless individuals at the
NYCHA South Jamaica Houses, who he
says have been “sleeping, defecating, urinating,
and engaging in sexual activity in
front of families that live in the building.”
According to Shea, the NYPD has been
interacting with the homeless population
and off ering services.
“We do a lot of work on a day-to-day
basis in the city. We’re working with other
city agencies to interact with homeless
people, and to see them not as criminals
because being homeless is not a crime,
but interacting with them to take services
and concentrating on locations where
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea and City
Councilman Donovan Richards.
Photos: Carlotta Mohamed/QNS
the most complaints
come in.”
Meanwhile, Glenn Greenidge, director
of the Sutphin Boulevard Business
Improvement District, requested more
resources at the 103rd Precinct to tackle
distribution of drugs nearby businesses
on Sutphin Boulevard and Archer Avenue.
“We have a McDonald’s that has been
there for 20 years and has closed down
because of drug activity, and members of
the McDonald’s condoned drug activity
in the store,” Greenidge said. “We also had
a shop owner who was beat up in his store.”
While some of the issues addressed
involved criminal activities of the
youth, Queens South Commanding
Offi cer Ruben Beltran said
the area is a prime concern
for Neighborhood
Coordination Officers
(NCOs). Beltran said
they’re reinventing
youth offi cers and
coordination offi -
cers to receive
training, and creating
safe spaces
for the youth to
gather, redirecting
them from
criminal activities.
In regards to the
new bail reform
act, when an audience
member asked,
“Is there a direct correlation
between bail
reform and increase
in criminal activity?”
Shea said he believes there is a direct correlation
and that the law can be changed
and fi xing inequities.
“We need balance. You have to remember
when you talk about bail reform,
you have to have the entire conversation
because if there’s 50 people in this room,
you’ll have 50 diff erent opinions,” Shea
said. “I don’t think this is the time to have
arguments and debates…this is the time to
come together, fi gure out what’s going on,
and make it better.”
Throughout the meeting,
the commissioner also
answered questions regarding
petty crimes and
installation of cameras
in neighborhoods,
the tenure
of precinct commanding
officers,
mental illness
crisis intervention
training
for police offi cers,
and bridging the
gap between
the Jewish
and African
A m e r i c a n
communities
across the city.
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea speaks at his
fi rst town hall meeting in southeast Queens
Thursday night at The Robert Ross Johnson Life
Center in St. Albans.
NYPD Commissioner Shea meets with Glenn Greenidge (second from right),
director of the Sutphin Boulevard Business Improvement District
(From l. to r.) Colleen Babb, executive assistant district attorney for the Community Partnerships
Division under Queens DA Melinda Katz, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea, Queens Borough South
Commanding Offi cer, Ruben Beltran.
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