UPPER WEST SIDE — Police are beefing up patrols on West 93rd Street after a string of violent attacks involving middle school students as young as 11 last month, the NYPD said.
In November, youths from the Douglass and Wise houses were involved in a series of beatings and a stabbing on the block between Amsterdam and Columbus avenues, police said.
In one incident, on Nov. 5, a group attacked a 13-year-old girl, knocked her to the ground and threw rocks at her face, police said. A day later, a 16-year-old boy was stabbed in another incident, and a 15-year-old boy was beaten with a metal scooter in yet another on Nov. 25, police said.
Additionally, a fight broke out on the street after school on Nov. 28, but no one was arrested, police said.
The youths involved in two of the attacks were gang members from Wise Towers, police added.
The 13-year-old girl beaten on Nov. 5, who is a middle school student at M.S. 256 on West 93rd Street, named her attackers to police, three of whom were arrested shortly after. An 11-year-old boy, a 15-year-old boy and another girl were arrested for the attack by mid-November, according to Capt. Marlon Larin, commanding officers of the 24th Precinct.
On Dec. 4, the fourth attacker, a 14-year-old girl, was also arrested, he said.
Because all of those involved in this incident are under 16, they will appear in family court rather than criminal court, Larin said. The court will assign community service or get them involved in programs to turn their behavior around, Larin explained.
"It’s not to criminalize the kids," he said, "it’s to show them this behavior is not acceptable."
Following the incidents, the 24th Precinct stationed three officers on West 93rd Street — one a regular officer and the other two school safety officers — at the corner of Amsterdam Avenue, Larin said.
The officers will remain there from 2:30 p.m. until 4:30 p.m., when school and after-school activities let out, said Larin, who made it a point of going by the corner every day as well.
"The presence goes a long way," he said, attributing the fact that there haven't been any new incidents on the block to the new officers.
He's asking for the public's help in calling in any incidents they see and in helping police identify those involved in any of the attacks, so they can make more arrests. Beyond the four individuals involved in the Nov. 5 attack, there have been no new arrests, he said.
The precinct already does juvenile home visits, in which officers visit known troublemakers during school breaks and talk to them and their family members to try to get them involved in programs and other activities, Larin explained.
Now, he wants to start a program that's a "juvenile home visit wth a twist," he said.
Instead of officers, prominent clergy, business owners or leaders would pay visits "to talk to these kids from a non-police perspective," he said.
They may listen more closely because these individuals don't come with the stigma police often carry, Larin said.
The commanding officer has invited PTA members from the schools located inside the Joan of Arc complex on West 93rd Street and others concerned about the violence to attend the Dec. 16 meeting of the 24th Precinct Community Council, set for 7 p.m. at the Bloomingdale Library.
