Cop Fired on in Aftermath of Rally at Grand and Putnam
[nggallery id=”21567″ template=galleryview] Yesterday’s press conference at the corner of Grand and Putnam avenues about the recent wave of violent crime in Eastern Clinton Hill (photo on the jump) must have touched a nerve: Less than 12 hours after Councilmember Letitia James and Deputy Borough President Yvonne J. Graham finished decrying the lack of resources…
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Yesterday’s press conference at the corner of Grand and Putnam avenues about the recent wave of violent crime in Eastern Clinton Hill (photo on the jump) must have touched a nerve: Less than 12 hours after Councilmember Letitia James and Deputy Borough President Yvonne J. Graham finished decrying the lack of resources being devoted by the city to the 88th Precinct, a traffic cop was shot at just yards away. According to a detective we spoke with this morning, the shooter fired on a traffic policeman in his patrol car between 2 and 2:30 a.m. this morning; the bullet missed its mark. The street is now closed off and the detective going door to door, in marked contrast to the shrug-like response that last week’s drive-by shooting on the corner elicited from the law enforcement community. The casual attitude taken by the precinct towards the situation was crystallized by a comment the same detective made to us. Because the corner was much worse a decade ago, he suggested, everyone should just be happy and stop complaining about it now. (This sounds remarkably similar to a comment another cop made to someone we know a couple of years ago that if she didn’t like the way things were in the neighborhood she should move out.) This from a guy, we can assure you, who lives nowhere near the neighborhood he works in. We’ll see whether this latest attack on their own gets the police to focus on this problem that has been under their noses for years. A good place to start might be the hours of videotape that the landlord of the problem building has of drug transactions going on in broad daylight. Up to now, the police have shown zero interest in viewing them. Maybe DA Charles Hynes can make the time.
Another Shooting on Grand and Putnam [Brownstoner]
Turning Up The Pressure on Grand and Putnam [Brownstoner]
Murder on Putnam: Will The Cops Show Up Now? [Brownstoner]
Legalize it!
11:03 I agree with you for the most part. Calling Clinton Hill the ghetto is a stretch but lately there has been several very violent incidents all over CH.
As a CH tax payer I am truly concerned about what going on in the neighborhood as a whole. As for that particular corner, they need to empty that building and put that entire block on lock down if need be.
And What – since you are wrong about all but one of your checks, could you check your tired recycling of “cognitive dissonance”?
Before you start raging on cops! There are only 2 patrol cars per sector! If they have to respond to a call, that leaves to sector unguarded. Cops have to respond to plenty of things (Ambulance calls, Domestic violence and other BS). People get shot, it’s the way it is. If you don’t like the area, MOVE!!!!!!! Sell your house and get the Ferk out!
The What
Someday this war is gonna end…
Of course it takes a cop to get shot for the 88th to show any interest in this corner. This is a infamous corner and the police only help its infamy by doing nothing.
You will never stop the drug trade, because where there is will there is way, but you can force it to hide more and reduce its overall effect on the community!
I puzzled over the accusation that posting a story like this is somehow meant to stir up race and class hatred. Try as I might, I couldn’t fathom the reasoning. That some people might respond to tense situations with knee-jerk reactions hardly mandates that such a subject is off limits. Quite the contrary. So I’ve decided that that accusation is mere trolling, and not worthy of engagement.
Because this site has increasingly become real estate porn as opposed to focused on renovation of homes and neighborhoods, it is perhaps natural that some see items like this in the prism of “but how does it affect real estate prices?” Let’s just acknowledge it probably depresses them. Which is how I bought my house for as little as I did six years ago. Perhaps understanding better now the long-term nature of the drug trade near my home, I might very well have passed on the house. Now that I am here, however, I take seriously my responsibility to think creatively about how to address the issue.
One response is community-wide response. Ran into an acquaintence last night at Outpost who said he and his neighbors aroudn Lefferts Place were about to get a non-profit incorporation for their block association, and he was willing to work with other nearby block associations to act as umbrella for funds. Seems to me that there is room for a block association for the Grand/Gates/Classon/Fulton blocks.
Certainly the 88th precinct is pulled in many directions. The then prcinct captain explained a couple years ago that he has to cover property crimes at the malls, robberies along the rich but poorly lit blocks in Fort Greene, and drugs over in this area. That said squeeky wheel gets the grease (no pun intended vis a vis conspiracy theories about cop pay-offs – these drug operations ain’t that big).
Let’s get something straight here, because there are lots of people commenting as experts who, in fact, have absolutely no idea about Clinton Hill.
Is it worrisome that these activities are happening in the area? Absolutely, and it needs to stop. BUT, this is happening on one particular corner. Overall it’s a great neighborhood to live in and calling it the ghetto is just false in every way.
this blog and others are a voice for the community. and we are the community. it’s up to us. we don’t live in a ghetto and we shouldn’t sit around lamenting the behaviour of individuals (of any race – though someone here is doing their best to make it about race – please take a break) – we have to find an appropriate response. blogging about police pay isnt going to help (is a 75K salary an appropriate amount to get shot? obvioulsy, no) though I’m sure everyone wants to be paid more. people in the community know who the dealers are. we can help the police. they can’t be everywhere and no-one would want a policeman on every corner of every street. what we need is a plan. Call it the Grand Plan. Neighborhood watch with teeth. Let’s get that going …
As a start, the landlord should put the tapes up on youtube…then post a link here. Once everyone sees what’s going on, maybe there will be some more pressure to make a change.