The NYPD is surging a team of community affairs officers this summer into a troubled Brooklyn neighborhood long plagued by gun violence.
Mere weeks after amNewYork Metro reported on the disturbing shooting trend in Brownsville — part of the 73rd Precinct, which leads in the city in both shooting incidents and people murdered — the NYPD is ramping up their presence with the addition of community affairs officers who will be working both to keep the peace and build relationships with residents.
Deputy Commissioner Community Affairs Mark Stewart and NYPD Assistant Commissioner Alden Foster are leading the initiative; the additional cops will be stationed in areas that have seen the most disturbing violence this year such as Livonia Park, where two seniors were shot on June 15.
According to Foster the operation is also about engaging with the community and building relationships.
“What this operation is going to do for us is that it’s going to really get the community engaged. We’re gonna start seeing relationships get built,” Foster said. “I need the community to partner with us, partner with us and really start telling us all the trigger pullers are, who the people are that we need to be really engaged in to help keep crime down.”
During the first half of 2024, according to the latest NYPD CompStat report, the 73rd Precinct saw 13 murders and 32 shooting incidents resulting in 39 victims, ranging from children to seniors. Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael LiPetri told amNewYork Metro that much of the gun violence is driven by gang activity and concentrated over a small area.
Stewart said the NYPD wants to establish a strong bond in the community to help each other establish and maintain peace in the neighborhood.
“We’re going to have ups and downs in our relationship, we are going to agree to disagree and we’re going to be friends and if something happens, we got to make and patch up — but the one thing there is no divorce. It’s a community and it’s the police department and we’re staying together,” Stewart said.
Both Stewart and Foster said local residents have told them they want to see more cops in the area. At least one neighborhood resident living near Livonia Park agreed.
“It’s a nice feeling,” Daisha Henry said of seeing the cops stationed by the park. “Because sometimes you have people who want to come outside and sit in a nice safe environment.”
