Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Community Police Headed to North Brooklyn Precincts

By Gwynne Hogan | February 2, 2017 1:44pm
 The neighborhood policing program is coming to Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Greenpoint in the next few months.
The neighborhood policing program is coming to Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Greenpoint in the next few months.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Sonja Sharp

GREENPOINT — Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Bushwick are slated to get community police officers in the coming months, according to Assistant Chief Jeffrey Maddrey, head of North Brooklyn's command.

As part of the citywide "Neighborhood Coordination Officer" initiative, North Brooklyn's precincts will be divided up into four smaller areas, each staffed with eight dedicated officers who are supposed to get to know the neighborhood, attend community meetings and be available to residents through cellphone calls and texts, Maddrey said.

The NYPD began rolling out the community policing program across the city in 2015.

The aim is to "push all officers to be more community oriented," Maddrey said at a 94th Precinct Community Council meeting Wednesday night. He added that all officers will be given mediation training.

"They really want these guys to be knowledgeable on a lot of things," he said.

The program rolls out in Williamsburg's 90th Precinct on Feb. 16. Greenpoint's 94th Precinct, which also incorporates parts of Williamsburg north of Metropolitan Avenue, will follow in April.

Bushwick will get the program at some point once they locate the officers to staff it, Maddrey said.

While the mayor's office has touted the Neighborhood Coordination Officer program as a way to repair the battered relationship between police and the communities they work in, advocates have questioned how effective it actually is.