March 6, 2017 By Hannah Wulkan
The Queens District Attorney presented the NYPD with more than $20 million in forfeiture funds today to implement a new community policing program and to upgrade equipment throughout the borough.
The funds, totaling $20.4 million, will be used to implement a new method of neighborhood policing across all 16 precincts in Queens, Brown announced, as well as to better equip cops in every precinct.
The neighborhood policing program will divide each precinct in to sectors that are patrolled by the same Neighborhood Coordination Officers every day to increase familiarity and foster trust between community members and their regular police officers.
“In essence, it heralds the return of a familiar figure – the cop on the beat who knows the people and the community he or she serves,” Brown said of the neighborhood policing program, which has already launched in several precincts including the 114th last fall.
“By forging closer, more meaningful relationships with local business owners, community advocates, religious leaders and residents, it is hoped that a line of dialogue can be opened up between the police and the communities that will result in mutual understanding and an easing of the tension and mistrust that ofttimes exists between the police and many of the communities they protect,” he added.
Neighborhoods that have already implemented the NCO program have also shown a 10.6 percent faster response time due to the extra personnel on patrol.
The funding for these new initiatives comes from a 2012 agreement with HSBC Holdings, which was caught laundering money and violating sanctions. As part of the prosecution agreement, the group agreed to forfeit $1.26 billion, part of which was allocated to Brown for helping develop the case against HSBC. He received an award of $116 million to use towards law enforcement purposes, and allocated a portion to the Queens NYPD.
“The $20 million Judge Brown has allocated for this department will be an important investment in neighborhood policing, our crime fighting strategy. This forfeiture funding will provide our cops with essential tools – like vehicles, technology, and training – they need to do their job,” said NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill.
The largest sum of money, just over $11 million, will be spent on about 264 new vehicles to assist with the neighborhood policing. The NYPD will also allocate $2.7 million toward tablets to assist with communication within the department, and various other tools needed for up-to-date policing.
The money will also be used to enhance training initiatives at the police academy and upgrade equipment in every precinct, such as spending $1.6 million on 19,000 new gun holsters that have automated locking systems, making them safer and more secure than the current standard-issue holsters.
10 Comments
Good idea. I don’t know the last time I saw a cop walking around rather than sitting in a radio car texting with his buddies.
I like this. Thank you.
I pay property taxes, high federal income taxes, and state local taxes. I am ashamed that most of this money goes to police officers who are not doing their jobs. I know there are many good ones but nearly every precinct has a corrupt person who authorizes overtime and in exchange, they all benefit and go out for a late night cold beer. This is just more incentive for them to “patrol” what does not need patrolling. I’d like if these officers start patrolling EACH OTHER. The amount of fraud and waste in government institutions needs to be investigated immediately.
I hope they ticket cyclists riding on the sidewalk, drivers who run red lights and dog owners who don’t pick up after their dogs.
I don’t think that they’ll be running after cars that go through red lights but just the action of putting officers on the street, where they can actually connect and know the neighborhood, should be a deterrent to many small time offenders and ne’er-do-wells looking for trouble.
Hopefully this extends into the night time hours when the bars are busy.
…and people that liter, throw cigarette butts on the ground, double park.
I do think it’s a good idea to have police walking around and being a friend to the community.
Hopefully this will help some cops lose weight.
New world order coming
I like the whole story but I don’t like that they mention New World Order
The article does NOT mention New World Order.
Take your attempt to create fake news elsewhere.
It doesn’t have to mention New World Order to see that more beat cops=more confrontation with pigs on the street. Why do you think people now aren’t strolling in the regular areas by now?