Enough With the Marauding Teenagers!
A couple of months ago as we were walking East on Greene Avenue between Waverly and Washington we noticed in our peripheral vision someone approaching fast from behind. When we spun around, it was a teenage boy, probably about 15 years old, who had crept up and was hovering inches from the back of our…
A couple of months ago as we were walking East on Greene Avenue between Waverly and Washington we noticed in our peripheral vision someone approaching fast from behind. When we spun around, it was a teenage boy, probably about 15 years old, who had crept up and was hovering inches from the back of our head mocking us provocatively to the clear delight of his jeering friends. Ever risk-averse, we quickly walked out into the middle of the street and starting dialing on our cell phone. With a few shouts, the pack continued down the block. We jogged back to a police car we had noticed parked back on Vanderbilt, told the cops what had happened and went home. The next day we heard that a woman had been mugged half an hour later a few blocks from there by a bunch of teenagers. We’ve heard of several similar instances in the area in recent weeks. And it’s not just Clinton Hill. A post on Brooklynian describes how a trio of teenage girls (19, 17 and 12) mugged five different people in Prospect Heights on Saturday night (and how only one of them decided to press charges) and an email we received yesterday told of a violent mugging of a twenty-something male by a group of boys at around 8:15 Monday night at Dekalb and South Oxford Street in Fort Greene (above). What can the community do to combat this activity? Obviously greater police presence would help, but given the paltry resources the NYPD devotes to this part of town, it’s going to take a lot of vigilance on the part of residents in terms of reporting even small incidents of harassment and pressing charges. And everyone should be aware that a lot of these muggings are happening during daylight hours, often between the end of school and dinner time, so it’s a good idea to minimize iPod and cell phone usage during those times. Please use this comment thread to document other similar incidents that you know about in recent months as well as to suggest ways to address the problem.
For those truly concerned about marauding teenagers, get a dog. If you have one most of your time outside will be spent with the dog, and no one will bother you, even if the dog is not very big. It seems that for some reason Brooklyn kids (including teens) are inordinately afraid of dogs despite the large numbers of them in the community. I am always amazed by the fact that even semi-thugged out teenage boys will step wide over to the side as I and my very friendly and small-medium sized dog walk by. They will not try to mug you because even if not deathly afraid of dogs most of the criminally minded would rather go for another target without that x factor involved. And while walking a dog one always is alert to one’s surroundings for the sake of avoiding confrontations with unfriendly dogs or having the dog cut off another pedestrian. Plus having a dog makes you more known in the hood and less of the anonymous neighbor that people (and cops) don’t care much about.
1.33 – isn’t it the robbers who have the sense of entitlement – they feel entitled to your stuff.
“Another ignorant comment. I recommended these breeds because 1) they are relatively easy to train 2) they don’t need as much attention as some other working breeds 3) despite what anyone tells you, including “The What,” a well-bred Shepherd or Rotweiler can more than handle any pit bull. 4) These breeds form close attachments with their owners and make great companions and watchdogs besides protectors.”
Hey Asshat! I saw a Pit run up one a Rotweiler and tore a chunk out of his ass! The Rotweiler couldn’t turn fast enough to defend itself then, the Pit go a hold of the Rotweiler leg and that’s all she wrote. Pitts are some fast assed dogs and if they get a full head of stream, say goodnight Gracie… Big dogs can’t handle fast moving short dogs. Pit are short and stocky and fast. They are my choice of great fighting dog!
“The What isn’t afraid because, in his experience, even maurauding kids think a guy wearing a diaper and a suit of armor eating handfuls of Tang out of a bucket is pretty terrifying, and they tend to cross the street themselves.”
Nice, very cite cute but, if you don’t put you name on it, it don’t mean anything!
The What
Someday this war is gonna end…
11:18, don’t you and your friends have better things to do than post on whitey’s RE blogs? You must have micrococks.
“Where I live in Bed Stuy none of this would be tolerated and the neighbors would be all over these kids. Its a community thing.”
Tell that to the victim in the clinton hill attack described the other day. A disabled person called the cops after witnessing through their window a woman being attacked. When the kids started running away some local men hanging out were seen pointing them to the best escape routes. These guys apparently believe the hoodlum teens are their neighbors, but the new white buyers are just the evil gentry who should be robbed.
11:17 = Donald White Jr. from Winnetka, IL
“Only someone as deeply disturbed as “The What” himself could possibly conjure such a moronic image.”
What we should REALLY be up in arms over around here is the plight of those unfortunate souls born without funny bones. It’s just so damn sad to watch them fruitlessly mash their palms against the keyboard.
**sobs uncontrollably, is grateful for own healthy sense of irony and appreciation for the absurd, clicks on HOTD link. **
bxgrl, by downward spiral you mean the record low crime levels. This is crime we’re talking about right?
Nokilissa
I’m 10.31 and I am male, average size, and white.
You do not have to be black to talk street. Listen to the kids around you as they talk and pick up the jargon. It’s easy.
And I agree with some of the other posters. If it gets down to where it is you vs. a gang it is best to split. Don’t argue with a gun. And never flash valuables ( IPODs are valuables) around a gang of 15 year old have nots.
My post is advice on how to avoid bad situations with punks, which I learned growing up in a tough part of Brooklyn and for me it has always worked. A true sociopath is a whole other story
That much said, and slightly off topic. A bunch of upper middle class twenty somethings, with a sense of entitlement, moving into a luxury building in a a bad nabe (lets call it not fully gentrified to satisfy some of the posters here)that somehow was non-ironicly named The MYNT is a crime spree waiting to happen.