The
Red Hook StarªRevue
DECEMBER 2016
SOUTH BROOKLYN’S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
FREE
Criminal Justice Revolutionized in Red Hook
PSA1 Community Cops to Become Peacemakers by Noah Phillips
T
erence Williams grew up in East New York, Brooklyn. Five years ago, Williams joined the New York Police Department, and on December 8 Officer Williams will graduate from the Red Hook Justice Center’s Peacemaking program. The Peacemaking program adapts Native American conflict resolution strategies to New York City court cases within the Justice Center’s catchment area - police precincts 72, 76, and 78. It is the first such program in the country, and Officer Williams is among the first police officers to receive the training. “We like Peacemaking because we’re not looked at solely as police officers. We’re looked at as human beings,” said Officer Williams during a November interview. “We want to do Peacemaking because we believe that it will be an alternative way to solve issues within the community - as opposed to doing things the traditional way, where if you do something wrong, we take you to jail. Maybe you can talk it out, let’s try that first.” Amanda Berman is the Project Director at the Red Hook Justice Center
“It’s all about our communities personally knowing their local cops, and trusting those cops to help them and their neighbors lead better lives.” (RHJC). Berman started her career as a public defender in the Bronx, but gradually moved away from direct practice towards exploring alternatives to incarceration and reform of the criminal justice system. She came to the RHJC in 2015, and is excited about the officers’ engagement in Peacemaking. “They’ll have more tools and options available than just ‘arrest or walk away,’” said Berman. “They’ve been a great resource for us but we are also providing a resource for them.”
Building Familiarity
This year saw an extensive expansion of community policing efforts by Mayor Bill de Blasio. The Neighborhood Coordination Officer (NCO) program was first rolled out in May 2015, and has been spreading across city precincts
Church Fresco Gets Facelift
I
by Emily Kluver
n a large Catholic church located on Verona Street, on the corner of Coffey Park, a massive fresco of the crucifixion overlooks the altar with commanding presence. The 1898 fresco, a painting method done with watercolors on wet plaster, acts as a eye-catching focal point in the large gothic revival-style church.
He entered a parish $150,000 in debt, struggling to meet its annual deficit of $100,000 and got the church back on its feet within his first year. But it has not been an easy ride.
Red Hook Star-Revue
ever since. The program designates officers specifically for community policing. By engaging in neighborhood meetings, events, and programs, the NYPD hopes to be proactive in crime prevention as well as build bridges at a time when many communities feel alienated by the force. “This is a crime-fighting model that is improving neighborhoods, incrementally on a small scale, block by block,” said then-Chief of Department, now Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill in an August press release announcing the expansion. “It’s all about our communities personally knowing their local cops, and trusting those cops to help them and their neighbors lead better lives. This is happening in a respectful and compassionate way, every day, all over New York – and it’s making the whole city safer.” One place where the NCO program has made big waves is Police Service Area 1 (PSA1), which is responsible for policing the 19 NYCHA developments in South Brooklyn.
Last year, if you would have entered Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church, you would have found their fresco in a different state. Since 2010, Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church has been undergoing a slow and steady revival process at the hands of Father Claudio Antecini.
From left to right: Officer Terence Williams, Captain Neteis Gilbert, Sgt. Anwar Yearwood and Officer Louis, of NYPD’s Police Service Area 1. (photo by Noah Phillips)
Visitation BVM Fresco. (photo by Emily Kluver)
Fighting the church building’s quick decay, compounded by damage from Hurricane Sandy, Fr. Claudio has spent the past six years fighting to save a parish once thought to be (continued on page 7)
“The NCO program has been significant in helping us drive down crime,” Captain Neteis Gilbert, PSA1’s Commanding Officer, said in an interview with the Star-Revue. “It’s a universal program that helps people whether they’re a victim or a perpetrator, and just getting through daily life.” Before receiving command of PSA1 in March, Captain Gilbert was an Executive Officer at Precinct 105 in Queens. She’s risen steadily through the ranks at a variety of ranks and assignments
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since 2000, when she joined NYPD. She said that for her, building relationships between the police and the community is essential. “It’s one of my fundamentals,” said Gilbert. “In order to effectively address crime, you need the community. You have to listen, you have to understand what their issues and concerns are.” There are 180 police officers under Gilbert’s command in PSA1. Most of them are organized into platoons, which might patrol a NYCHA development or be dispatched from their station house, reacting in relatively unknown territory to calls from relatively anonymous community members. PSA1’s eight NCOs, by contrast, “get the opportunity to be proactive, and actually see the results of it, and know that they’re helping,” said Gilbert. NCOs attend Tenant Association meetings, give out their cell phone numbers, give presentations about domestic violence or bullying, and attend community events. They focus on crime prevention as well as simply becoming familiar with the communities in which they serve. “It’s not like we’re seeing you one time, we’re seeing you probably every other day, or every day. You have that number, if your niece, nephew, grandchild or child needs a conversation about school, or bullying, or anything, we’re there.” The eight NCOs under Captain Gilbert’s command are spread across (continued on page 3)
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