Gunplay Plagues Two Brooklyn Nabes
BROOKLYN, NY — On the streets of Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights, nearly everyone has a crime story to tell.
Jasmine Williams, a 20-year-old mom, heard shots ring out two nights ago. Last month, retiree Doug Ruckle, 73, saw someone gunned down a few feet away from him.
And baby-sitter Marcia Gordon recalls bullets flying outside a Jamaican restaurant where she dined a couple of months ago. The familiar sound didn’t shock her, but the time did.
“This was 7:30!” the 53-year-old Crown Heights woman said.
The law-abiding residents of Brooklyn’s 79th and 71st precincts say that while much of the city is enjoying a drop in crime, they’re virtual prisoners in their homes.
They welcome Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly’s plan to beef up the police presence, but are skeptical it will work.
“We don’t just need more police around here. We need a goddamn army,” said Ruckle, who lives in Bed-Stuy.
In Crown Heights, Gordon yearns to take a simple evening stroll. “When I’m in the house, I don’t go back out,” she said.
And Williams said her toddler never plays outside their Crown Heights home – she meets friends at Chuck E. Cheese’s or visits family on Long Island.
“It’s not pretty out here,” she said. “A simple gathering can turn into a shootout. … Any given minute, anyone can get hurt.”
Menachem
Good job, daily news–keep making it look as bad as possible! Thanks for besmirching our still-nice neighborhood.
READER
THE PICTURE THAT YOU HAVE FOR THIS ARTICLE WITH THE TWO COPS FULLY ARMED AND LOADED, THAT IS WHAT WE NEED IN THE STREETS OF CROWN HEIGHTS AT LEAST ONE AT EVERY HIGH CRIME CORNER
CH
And we all the Jews in CH didn’t even mention how last year a member of our community was shot 7 how every single day there are mugging & assaults, the police don’t care for anyone 71 precinct wake up we hand enough
keep it coming
its about time its put in perspective –
yest the NYPD is doing a great job overall in the city – but thats no excuse why our neighborhood is being overlooked and subjected to mr vega and his selfserving cuase
Eli Spalter
Re: Menachem
I don’t know where you live, but in the Crown Heights I have come to know over the last few years this article is spot on.
You can continue to live in your fantasy world of rainbows and gumdrops, or you can face reality and realize that this article shifts the focus to the horrific job the 71st precinct is doing.
This article may even lead to some political pressure being put onto Inspector Frank Vega and the rest of our incompetent police force, making them actually do something to care for the citizens they swore to protect.
more cops
Hey Menachem and all,
firstly Ch is bigger than the 7 by 10 blocks of “Jewish CH”. Ane it is pretty bad. I have no problem getting this kind of publicity and will welcome more cops here anyday. Hopefully they will do the job they are being brought in to do and not concentrate and giving out tickets and the like – which by the way is part of their job!! (that’s for all the obnoxious ppl in this neighborhood who drive like madmen while on the phone, park wherever they feel like and complain about getting tickets, Jews and Blacks alike!!!)
confused,upset,bewildered,angry
crown heights is kedusha!-it should be a safe place 2 live;were ppl want 2 live.
it seems like the whole population(excluding the criminals)want CH 2 be armed more,so why isnt it protected?