TOTTENVILLE — The NYPD will bring its neighborhood policing strategy to the 123rd Precinct later this month, leaving the high-crime 121st Precinct as the only one in the borough without it.
The strategy — which encourages officers to meet with residents in their neighborhood to help drive crime rates down — will be rolled out to the 123rd Precinct, the 25th Precinct in East Harlem, the 76th Precinct in Red Hook and the 94th Precinct in Greenpoint starting on April 24, said Chief of Patrol Terence Monahan.
The NYPD will then bring it to the 63rd Precinct in Marine Park, the 83rd Precinct in Bushwick, the 106 Precinct in Ozone Park and the 115th Precinct in Jackson Heights in July.
"We believe it's the right path for public safety and it's something very powerful when we can bring it to another precinct," said Mayor Bill de Blasio. "To have the [neighborhood coordination officers] here in the 123rd will deepen the already extraordinary efforts that are happening all the time in this precinct."
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The neighborhood policing initiative has already been in place at the 120th and 122nd precincts in the borough. However, the city rolled it out to the 123rd Precinct — the safest residential precinct citywide for the past six years — before the 121st Precinct, which has the second-highest crime rates in the borough.
Officials said that it was easier to move the resources to put the strategy in place at the 123rd Precinct first and did not give a timeline for when it will come to the 121st Precinct.
"We were able to reallocate resources that are currently assigned to the command to be able to get this running properly, where we can get our cops time off the radio," said Monahan. "121, we're going to have to look to get more personnel there."
The mayor's office did not respond to a request for the cost of putting the strategy in place at the 123rd Precinct.
Elected officials lauded the city's decision to bring the strategy to the 116 Main St. precinct stationhouse and said it's something the neighborhood wanted.
"This is the program that I have been asking for and was hoping would come to this precinct," said Councilman Joe Borelli. "This is a community that wants to know and wants to work with their law officers."
The neighborhood policing model has NCOs focus less on reactively responding to 911 calls and instead proactively visit shops and businesses, attend community meetings and reach out to community members to improve relations with residents and hopefully get tips on crimes.
So far this year, precincts that have implemented the strategy have had a 6.2 percent drop in index crimes — like murder, rape and robbery — compared to a 5.2 percent decrease in those citywide.
De Blasio also announced that have been decreases in several incidents in the borough this year. There has been a 69 percent drop in homicides this year compared to the same period in 2016, from 13 to four.
