By Joseph Concannon
Here’s the report on Crime, Fear and Disorder. According to internal MTA documents, 1,623 reports of soiled cars slowed service and disgusted straphangers in the first eight months of the year, which is already more than the 1,504 incidents recorded in all of 2017. This is what City & State NY First Read wanted you to know.
All major media reported on more than a half dozen incidents in which NYPD officers had water and other objects thrown at them while they tried to do their jobs. Notably in several of the incidents the officers did not engage, walked away, and took no enforcement action.
Citizen, an online mobile phone application records and reports a slashing as I sit here and write this article. My Ring doorbell app hosts an online map listing all the incidents within a one to two-mile radius of my home. The volume of incidents are so tightly crowded together on the map, it’s hard to make them out: crimes, safety, suspicious persons, unknown visitors – too many to talk about.
Police officers of the 73rd Precinct respond to “shots fired” and for nearly an hour attempt to apprehend an individual who is continuously shooting at them. At one point the shooter has two teams of officers pinned down and they can’t move without being in the shooter’s crosshairs. The incident ends, police officers eventually go home and it’s another day spent in the palm of God’s hands.
The 75th Precinct records over 40 shootings since June 1, 2019. Police officers on patrol in the 75th observe a felony assault, they make an arrest and it is reported that the Brooklyn DA’s office declines to prosecute because the officer’s chest cam was not activated. The NYPD Argus Cameras mounted in crime prone communities to deter and detect criminals record a shooter randomly spraying a group of people with gun fire. The NYPD identifies the shooter, makes the arrest and again it is reported that the Brooklyn DA’s office declines to prosecute with no further information.
Over the Labor Day weekend an event reported as a significant cultural parade takes place on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn and surrounding areas. The West Indian Day Parade and J’ouvert celebrations get underway and fawning media covers brightly barely dressed women marching up the parkway. Right off the parade route, 23 separate shootings take place. The media pay no attention and shrug off the continued 25 years of violence which are a hallmark of this event.
A home invasion is reported on 241st Street near Hillside Avenue, but it turns out to be just another burglary and the homeowner comes home to catch them in the act. Tensions run high on social media and people are scared as helicopters circle over the area searching for the fleeing suspect.
Laura Uhle, famed Facebook reporter states two dead human bodies found in a car with livery plates in the parking lot of the Glen Oaks Shopping Center. Two reported, but it was one body which was totally decomposed in a car with the windows all the way up.
McDonalds and Wendy’s located at Hillside Avenue and Springfield Blvd., are overrun with homeless and NYPD is dealing with it. Owners of both locations have bathrooms ruined, customers threatened, and a steady stream of homeless or more likely Creedmoor residents sleeping on benches and chairs inside their establishments. Owners/operators are fearful of the residents and feel their safety may be in jeopardy.
The Dunkin Donuts on Hillside and 256 Street has a random food truck pull up in front. A big red truck -you may have seen it. The truck is direct competition for the Dunkin Donuts who pays $1000’s each month in rent/lease payments. The truck operator relieves himself in the bathroom of the Dunkin Donuts and then proceeds to break everything in the bathroom. The owner is on his own.
Fear, disorder, and crime. These incidents are just a small sampling from around the city that came to my attention. Voting matters and elections have consequences. What are you waiting for?
