Police Chief: Patrols to Increase in Crown Heights

Crown Heights will soon begin seeing more police officers, auxiliary officers and perhaps even mounted units patrolling the streets during school dismissal times, the commanding officer of the 71st Precinct told CrownHeights.info. He also reported that progress has been made with the rock throwing incident that occurred last Wednesday.

Taking time out of his busy day, Deputy Inspector George Fitzgibbon met with CrownHeights.info staff on Friday afternoon, whom he updated on changes he made to his patrols and additional cops which will flood the area. These changes are all in response to a recent uptick in violence against Crown Heights residents.

D.I. Fitzgibbon explained that he re-tasked 12 officers and a sergeant, changing their hours to 1:00pm to 9:00pm, and they are to be out in force at ‘hotspots’ during school dismissal times. Also, these ‘hotspots’ will benefit from additional officers as part of an “all out,” in which officers from surrounding precincts will be brought in to patrol schools and parks.

Over Shabbos and the coming week there will be an additional 20 to 40 auxiliary cops patrolling Kingston Avenue, as well as the side streets.

On Wednesday, a number of Darchai Menachem students on their way home from school were pelted with stones by a group of youngsters. On Thursday at around 5:00pm, the same group was apparently out throwing rocks once again, only this time they targeted cars in the same area.

Police were called to the scene and they developed a promising lead; they are expecting detectives from the Hate Crimes Task Force to speak with the suspects and put a stop to these incidents.

Detective Vincent Martinos and D.I. Fitzgibbon have also been reaching out to area public schools, and have spoken to more than 500 kids in 10 different schools on topics including anti bullying, youth law and cultural awareness. They expect to make it to an additional five schools next week.

The Precinct also reached out to Devorah Halberstam of the Jewish Children’s Museum, and arranged free field trips for public school children to the Museum. Mrs. Halberstam requested that the schools not only send their ‘straight A students,’ rather focus on the ones who are struggling and who would benefit from the awareness such a trip would bring.