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New NYPD Outreach Effort Has Officers Speaking at Houses of Worship

By  Danielle Tcholakian and Murray Weiss | February 26, 2015 6:03pm | Updated on February 26, 2015 6:06pm

 Our Lady of Pompeii Church, at 25 Carmine St. in the Village, is one of the houses of worship where the commander of the 6th Precinct spoke to congregants.
Our Lady of Pompeii Church, at 25 Carmine St. in the Village, is one of the houses of worship where the commander of the 6th Precinct spoke to congregants.
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DNAinfo/Danielle Tcholakian

GREENWICH VILLAGE — The NYPD has been speaking at churches as part of community engagement initiatives being pushed by Mayor Bill de Blasio and Commissioner Bill Bratton, a police official said at a public meeting on Wednesday night.

Sixth Precinct commanding officer Elisa Cokkinos said officers were visiting local religious centers as a "citywide program to reach people in those communities" that has been rolled out over the past few weeks.

"The mayor is having us visit local houses of worship," Cokkinos said at a community council meeting Wednesday night.

Police sources said top brass made a "centralized decision" about a month ago to ask precinct commanders to visit churches and other houses of worship.

They were looking for "the best way to interact in a comfortable setting," the sources said, and decided that the houses of worship might be that.

Churches visited by the 6th Precinct included Our Lady of Guadelupe at 328 W. 14th St., Our Lady of Pompeii at 25 Carmine St., where the 6th Precinct Community Council's monthly meetings are held, and St. Joseph's Church at 371 Sixth Ave.

The initiative is not limited to churches, but Cokkinos said she and her officers haven't visited any other types of houses of worship yet.

Commissioner Bill Bratton recently spoke at a church in Queens, where he called out the role that police forces have played in the oppression of Black Americans throughout history, saying "many of the worst parts of Black history would have been impossible without police."

The NYPD's public information office did not respond to a request for comment or more information. A spokesman for the mayor also did not respond to an inquiry.

The interest in deeper engagement seems to be mutual.

The Queens Times-Ledger reported this week that a youth minister at Bethany Baptist Church in Jamaica asked a sergeant with the NYPD's Community Affairs division to come speak with his younger congregants.

Sgt. Dwayne Palmer answered questions and gave advice to youngsters who shared experiences they have had with police, the Times-Ledger reported. When young men in the audience asked about the NYPD's firearms training, Palmer responded, “We are trained to shoot to stop.”

Cokkinos said she generally stopped by before or after Mass to speak to the congregation at the behest of the church leaders, sometimes bringing some of her newer officers to introduce them to the community.

At Our Lady of Pompeii, she caught the tail end of the Italian mass and was struck by the experience.

"It was beautiful, and the church is beautiful, with all of this stained glass. You walk in and you just—" she said, exhaling deeply for effect. "You just feel really peaceful."

Cokkinos said the visits were well-received by the congregations, and good experiences for the officers as well.

"They're enjoying it, too," she said.

Other precincts that have visited churches in the past month or so include Midtown South, the 112th Precinct in Forest Hills, and PSA 8, the precinct that patrols the Throgs Neck NYCHA housing development in the Bronx.