Crow Hill Community Association...Leading The Way!

CHCA Meeting Minutes

February 19, 2008

The meeting was called to order at 7:45 by Ms. Porter.

Guest Speaker
Deputy Inspector, John Cosgrove, commanding officer of the 77th Precinct was our guest speaker. He outlined the Impact Zone which consists of 38 officers patrolling the area between Franklin & Nostrand, from Eastern Parkway to Pacific. There are 14 officers assigned to the day shift: 11:30 am-5:30 pm and 24 to the night shift: 5:30 pm-2am. The officers walk in pairs and the location and timing of these patrols is determined by 1 Police Plaza, not the precinct.

Feedback to the precinct from the community has been positive from both from a quality of life standpoint and communication between the new officers and residents, there has been one negative complaint that will lead to a meeting with youth. The policy of the department is to be assertive in enforcing quality of life issues. There is a balance that needs to be found for each community between proper enforcement and policing that over extends boundaries.

Crime is down 2% for the year to date though robberies continue to be a problem and are up from last year, there have been 75 robbery related arrests since the beginning of the year. Burglaries and auto theft are down. The western side of the precinct is still seeing persistent muggings which seem to be happening mainly between 5-10 pm.

Inspector Cosgrove reiterated what he said at the last precinct council meeting: for the police to have an effect on these crimes, in order for them to both make arrests and have the arrest lead to jail time there MUST be cooperation from the community. If you witness something, it must be reported, if you are a victim the more information you can give to the police about your attacker(s) the better the chance of them making a positive ID. Once someone is apprehended for a crime it is necessary for the victim (or any witnesses) to assist the criminal justice process and be willing to both identify and testify. Without this co-operation these attackers are back on the street very quickly committing other crimes. Inspector

Cosgrove relayed an incident that happened this winter: someone was mugged, the police came quickly, gave a description, the assailant was apprehended with the stolen articles in his possession, a positive ID by the victim was made, the attacker was arrested. When it came time for the victim to make a positive ID for the DA, he no longer was willing to say he was sure the man arrested was his attacker so he was released. This individual had been arrested previously for a similar crime and was arrested 3 weeks later for the same thing.

Questions:

How are burglaries investigated:
Both forensic and DNA evidence is gathered from the crime scene, serial numbers of possessions taken are recorded. The police look for patterns in robberies and once someone is arrested an attempt is made to link them to a series of burglaries through evidence found or possessions recovered.

Drug & gang related crime:
The precinct has been working with the DA’s office (both narcotics and gang divisions) to target these crimes. This effort takes the form of long term investigations the results of which were seen in the arrests of about 30 people on Nostrand (and St Johns) last summer. There are other ongoing long term investigations in the community

How to address the historical narcotics problem in the community?
Again community involvement is of paramount importance. If you see activity on the street or know of activity in a building, REPORT IT. You can call 911 or 311, request anonymity, (say you do not want to talk to the police or have them come to your door), but report it with as much detail as possible: physical description, location, where the drugs are being stashed, time of day, etc. You can also send information anonymously in writing to the precinct or email the Mayor or Commissioner Kelly. EVERY ONE of these reports gets investigated. The squeaky wheel will get the most oil. This year to date there have been 326 drug related arrests, up 340% from 15 years ago.
(contact information given below)

What is the duration of the Impact Zone?
It will definitely be in place for 6 months, quite possibly 1 year.
If the community is happy with the results, residents should make this known to Commissioner Kelly and to our elected officials to insure that it will be continued.

Can we get cameras on Franklin:
There are 4 cameras on Utica, Inspector Cosgrove has been requesting cameras for Nostrand and Franklin, this is something else that the community should write letters about. Property owners can put up cameras on their buildings and these can be equally helpful both as a deterrent and to obtain evidence.

FTAP
A program that is extremely helpful to the police is when landlords join FTAP. This is a program for multiple dwelling buildings of 6 units or more. The landlord agrees to allow the police access to his property so that they can move through it, make arrests if there is drug dealing in the public spaces and get to the roof for surveillance purposes. This is extremely helpful in the cases where drug dealing has moved off the street into lobbies & stairwells.

What programs does the Police Dept. have in place to deal with youth?
School safety division: develops programs within schools
DARE
Precinct Youth Officer
Community Affairs Bureau: geared towards at risk youth
These programs tend to be borough centric not precinct specific

Community Partnership Program:
Community Affairs officers create a list of institutions throughout the community (churches, stores, community groups, etc.) which gets broken down alphabetically. Officers on patrol stop by to introduce themselves and get feedback in an effort to foster better community/precinct relations.

We thank Deputy Inspector Cosgrove for the quality time he gave to Crow Hill and for the leadership he has brought to the precinct.

We urge all Crow Hill Association members to follow through on the suggestions that he made:

  1. Be a good witness: if you observe a crime, report it with as much detail as possible:
  2. Write letters of support for the Impact Zone (as well as for anything that you feel is positive about the precinct).
    Send to Commissioner Kelly, copies can be sent to the Mayor’s Office
    • Raymond Kelly Commissioner, NYPD
      One Police Plaza
      New York, NY 10038
    • The Honorable Michael R. Bloomberg
      City Hall
      New York, NY 10007

Go Green/Go Clean Committee report by Stacey Sheffey, Chair.
The Go Green/Go Clean Committee applied for inclusion in SBS’s (Dept. of Small Business Services) NY Clean Streets program for fiscal year 2009-10. If we are chosen, this program would provide for street cleaning, graffiti & poster removal, shoveling snow at street corners, etc. 5 days a week (we choose the days) 8 hours a day for our target area of Franklin between Eastern Parkway and Bergen. The program would be fully funded for the first year and 75% funded for the following year. We would be responsible for continuing the program in the 3rd year and beyond. The cost of the program per year is estimated to be $50,000.

In addition to providing funding, SBS will come into the community to identify the problems to be addressed and to help CHCA with fund raising and marketing strategies. The program is designed to have 2 effects on the community

1. Improve the appearance of the target area, thereby creating a more desirable and successful commercial corridor

2. Help community groups establish long term and productive relationships between merchants and residents

CHCA thanks Stacey, Ms Porter, Nina, Anna, Abby and Laura for their work in submitting the grant proposal and we thank the following businesses and establishments for writing letters of support:
95 South
Ebita Reality
HAD Associates
Fishers
Ja Dons Unisex Salon
Lasting Impressions
Mazon
Saje
The Staight Way Church of God in Christ

Committee sign up sheets presented for participation

Collected Dues

Ended Meeting

Past Meeting Minutes

January 15, 2008

December 18, 2007

October 16, 2007