How do I get rid of Crachheads in front of my apartment
For some reason or another my buildings stoop has become a meeting point for crackheads. None of them live in the buidling, yet for some reason they always sit on our stoop. They are constantly drinking/Smoking crack and making a total mess of the area. They constantly pick apart our garbage as well. We have…
For some reason or another my buildings stoop has become a meeting point for crackheads. None of them live in the buidling, yet for some reason they always sit on our stoop. They are constantly drinking/Smoking crack and making a total mess of the area. They constantly pick apart our garbage as well. We have seen them urinate in front of the building numerous times.
I have spoken with everyone in the building and neighbors and no one wants these people around. At the same time most people are scared to do anything about it.
I have started calling the cops but they do not seem to care, even when they arrive and the crackheads are still there.
What can we do to get rid of the crackheads?
Stoop washing has been a tried and true method of helping to relocate undesirables. In this day and age, an automatic sprinkler, perhaps?
Go to your precinct’s next community council meeting en masse. You do not have to speak publicly. You can speak to the precinct Inspector directly. There are a number of things that can then be done but do not lie and say that they are dealing drugs in front of the building if you do not think this is the case. Make sure that you let your landlord know and get them onboard. Take the landlord’s contact information and if possible a letter from them giving the police permission to place the building under their program that allows them to make sweeps of the public spaces in the private building and charge anyone on the premises without permission with trespass. Of course if they have drugs on them they will be charged accordingly. In addition you can press your landlord to install surveillance cameras.
If there is drug dealing instead of crackheads hanging out, it will take longer to remedy but the process is pretty much the same except that the police will refer it to narcotics who will send in undercover cops.
We had a hard time on our block even w/ the CPOP help. We had to keep diaries of when we saw what kind of activity – from noisy gatherings, cars pulling up at all hours, copper pipe being carried out of a construction site, etc. I’d keep phoning the precinct but in the interim, you & neighbors might start keeping diaries to bolster your claims.
I had the very same problem on Classon Ave a couple of years ago when I lived opposite a *hotel*. I was very active for a while, attending community council meetings, writing letters, passing around a petition, etc. I think it helped, but I had to be very persistent. The community council meetings are the best place to start. They happen once a month (call your precinct for the info). Take some neighbors with you if you can. The more people who speak up about it the better. Also, DO keep calling 911 even if you think it’s not helping — and tell your neighbors to call too. Those calls are documented/tracked and if it looks like they’re spiking in a certain area they’ll presumably send more beat cops.
premadas- where was that apartment building with the brothel? I think I lived in that building. LONG STORY. Was it on 2nd st in the East Village?
Great stories premados.
My inclination has always been to pour liquids from the roof, but have never had the guts to actually do it.
Also, I think you could try a “no loitering” or “no trespassing” sign. My understanding is that it is not trespassing until you have been asked to leave.
So if you call the cops and the guys are on the stoop they can’t arrest for trespassing as they haven’t been asked to leave. When “no trespassing” is posted, then the crackheads are already trespassing just by ignoring the sign and can be picked up for it.
I am not a lawyer. And this is all of course theoretical — no telling whether the cops will act or not.
I forgot to add that all you have to do is tell the cops that you beleive they are dealing drugs on your stoop and your complaint will be taken alot more seriously that if you just say that kids are hanging out getting high and making a mess.
I once lived in an apartment over a store on 5th Avenue. When the stores closed the drug dealers used the street benches on the corner to sell. Cars with loud radios were there all night. I went to the local State Senator’s office and they told me they would call their contact at the local precinct.
I also called the precinct on my own and was given the name and number of the Community “POP” officer for my area. I forgot what that stands for but what those officers do is handle Quality of Life issues.
And you can also call and ask to speak to an officer on the narcotics squad directly rather than just make a general complaint. A few weeks after after the cops chased away the dealers they opened a small storefront on a side street called “The ZigZag Store” complete with two-way mirrors. I called the Narc Squad and none of them knew that ZigZag was a brand of rolling paper – DUH! The store was closed within a week of my calling and the dealers moved to another corner.
In another building I lived in a prostitution ring rented a ground floor apartment and opened a brothel! I called the precinct and my call was transferred over to someone in the Vice Squad. The apartment was raided and the brothel gone in two days.
This all happens in Bay Ridge!
Bright lights. Problem solved the day you put them up. Unless of course they are daytime crackheads, in which case start washing your stoop frequently so it’s always wet.