Grand & Putnam Gets Lip Service, Maybe More

Putnam-denizen,

I agree totally with everything you have written. People talk about crimes that have been committed against them, yet never call the police. How are the police supposed to do something if you never formally report it.

Its been my experience that cops in the 88th respond very quickly. Last Halloween, i witnessed a mugging out of my window. After freezing for what seemed like an eternity, i picked up the phone and called 911. I gave as clear a description of the 3 perps that could. Told them which direction the perps fled in and what direction the victim headed to after the mugging. At 6:15 the following morning, i got a call from a sergeant at the 88th thanking me on behalf of the victim. Based on the description that i provided, cops were able to apprehend the guys and the victim was able to ID them.

I think if more folks did that sort of thing, the situation would change. The cops have to respond to calls and there are metrices in place to that track these sorts of things. But residents have to initate the process by calling 911.

Please, please when you do call, please give more than the generic black male between 18-35 years old weighing 150-225 lbs description. Try to take note of clothing(what color shirt, what color pants). Did they have facial hair? Did they have a cap? Where there any unusual designs on the clothing. Believe it or not, the guy i called in was wearing one of those NASCAR jackets with all the sponser labels with matching cap. It wasnt hard for the cops to find the suspect and have the victim confirm.

Because Brownstoner lives in Clinton Hill. And no, crime is not that bad, but confronting crime is part of the gentrification process (actually strike that, it is part of being a member of any healthy community)

I attended the meeting and was impressed by the amount of real information shared and by the respect shown by all parties to each other. Too often such meetings degenerate into “feel good” finger pointing. That said there was a somewhat selfish and righteous undercurrent that was apparent in the comments of some of the thirty-something white men (including, I have to say, the person who I now believe to be Mr. Brownstoner).

For example, I felt that the broad and unsupported allegation that members of the 88th Precinct must be on the take because of the continuing drug and prostitution activity came close to poisoning the meeting. As a criminal defense lawyer I have certainly come across police who lie and may indeed let some little fish go in order to make their lives palatable. But the police cannot end drug dealing because the police cannot end drug use.

Similarly I felt that the “lock em all up” and that will end it was incredibly naive. Most of the people we see on the street are part time dealers. Raising the cost of doing business may indeed make individuals rethink their decisions, but there is a very large pool of people willing to take their place. One self-identified recent transplant to the neighborhood demanded that the police conduct a red hook style crack down at Grand and Putnam (in the last year a two year investigation of drug sales in the Red Hook Houses resulted in hundreds of indictments). But can any of us claim that the problem at Grand and Putnam even begins to approach the evident horrors faced by the residents of the Red Hook Houses?

One of the strongest points made by Captain Cosgrove is that he faces choices, and that another endemic problem in the 88th Precinct are muggings along the transportation corridors of Lafayette and Dekalb (muggings which are ironically enough discouraged by drug dealers at Grand and Putnam because they don’t want attention to their profit making business). Indeed foot patrols discourage drug dealing, but thos same officers may sometimes be needed elsewhere.

I believe many of those present over-estimated the ease of making an arrest. If you want a world where police testify honestly and where people (mainly men of color) are not stopped just because of their prsence in a known drug location, then you have to accept that cops can’t really see enough to make an arrest unless they doing an undercover buy and bust. Quite frankly what most of see on the street may suggest a drug transaction, but is not enough for probable cause for an arrest. (Which is not to say that I haven’t seen people counting their crack baggies in broad daylight sometimes!) And unless those arrested agree to cooperate, the arrests are of those same part-time low-level dealers.

Does that mean there is no hope? No. Indeed the captain highlighted a very positive element, which was the upcoming civil action against the Lefferts Hotel. I might suggest a similar action against the bodega at Putnam and grand which allows hand to hand sales in it aisles, the bodegas up and down the Fulton Street corridors which sell crack pipes, and maybe the porno store on Atlantic. Those have to be the result of long-term police investigations. Which are costly, but more effective than a video camera.

The other technique spoken of which people seemed to view very ambivalently, is community and individual action. If some people seemed a wee bit self-involved, most just seemed overwhelmed and frustrated. One older woman spoke very honestly of how she has never called the police in her sixty-some years until last week when a block party on Lefferts Place was going out of control. She had never seen the police as instruments of positive change. The account from the woman on St James who had a rat put on her front stoop, her car window broken and was confronted on the street was very troubling. What made it doubly troubling was that it was unclear whether she had reported the threats to the police. People were very resistant to reporting things to the police (it won’t get written down, they are rude, they tell me I am being silly, etc). Obviously based in fact. But as someone who works in (against?) the system, I can tell you witness intimidation is the kind of case both judges and prosecutors come down hard on.

Ultimately it seems to come down to how many risks we are prepared to take, and how much we are willing to involve ourselves in providing information to law enforcement. Honestly it does not seem safe enough to me at this point for there to be a block watch which actively tries to disrupt the “activities.” My attempts at my end to make life uncomfortable for prostitution have resulted in very uncomfortable interactions, and yes I do get concerned about whether or not my property or my family will be hurt. I have called the police when I have seen a protitute and her john crawling into a construction site, and I did here the police there within ten minutes (so perhaps there was an arrest depending on the quality of the prostitution!).

A number of my neighbors discussed reviving a block association for our part of Putnam. I came away from the meeting feeling impressed by my neighbors and by the information provided.

it would be indicative to the effectiveness of the present police plan. I live in chelsea and I’m sure we’ve had more than 3 in the last couple of weeks