76th Precinct talks crime, shooting films, and parking

The 76th Precinct is the neighborhood police district. Once a month they hold a public meeting in their basement, on Union Street between Hicks and Henry. Jerry Armer hosts the meetings, and the top cop, Officer Megan O’Malley, answers questions from anyone who comes to ask.

At the October meeting, she pointed out a few issues in an otherwise quiet month for policing.

“We did see an increase in grand larceny autos, which was mostly a pattern we had earlier in the summer with VESPAs,” O’Malley said. “We made several arrests and we seem to have abated that problem. There was an occasional motorcycle here or there.”

The precinct has seen an increase in bicycle robberies. Recent thefts have included bikes left in courtyards, in front of buildings or ones without sturdy locks. O’Malley reminded everyone that bike owners can come to the precinct with their vehicle and have a secret code etched onto it. That way recovered bikes can be returned to owners.

Drunk driving arrests have increased this year. This increase is as a result of the midnight officers, two of which were at the meeting. Two of those were October’s Cops of the Month .

Cops of the month

One night, around 3 am, Officers Mathews Mallex and Corran Nazere were at the corner of Douglass and Hoyt observing a suspicious male, in possession of construction materials. The officers approached him since they were aware of past burglaries at construction sites in the area.
“In doing so they observed a large quantity of copper wire labeled with Con Edison’s logo,” O’Malley said. “The male admitted to his participation in a ring of construction site robberies.”

Police Parking

A neighborhood resident who lives close to the precinct has noticed issues with parking, especially right near 191 Union Street. He wanted to know how parking is authorized on the block in front of the precinct.

O’Malley said that the police cars have authorization from the Department of Transportation (DOT) to park the way they do outside the precinct.

The resident said that the issues he has seen don’t just relate to squad cars but also people’s personal vehicles on the sidewalk. He added that he has many pictures with cars with placards that don’t have license plate numbers or tags.

O’Malley requested seeing the pictures that he has and thanked him for bringing this issue to the precinct’s attention

NCO Officers

Armer then had the Neighborhood Coordination Officers introduce themselves. Sargeant Kimberle Augustine, who is the NCO Supervisor introduced herself first.

Officers John Asanesco and Lauren Maragni are in sector A. Officers Justin Fausto and Kelsey Mahne are in sector B in Gowanus. Officers Vegnel Jovin and Krystal Class are in sector D, which covers Van Brunt Street. Officers Damien Clarke and Jonathan Rueda are in sector D, which covers most of the public housing development.

“Depending on which sector you live in, you are invited to meet them and discuss with them any problems,” Jerry Armer said. “You don’t have to wait until you come here. You can stop them on the street but you can also go to the meetings every quarter.” The meetings are called Build the Block.

The next meeting for sector C will be on December 12 at the Red Hook Library. Sector D will have their meeting on October 24 at the new Red Hook Senior Center at 6:30 pm. The Build the Block is on the 76th Precinct Facebook account.

Too many movie shoots

Roberto Gil, who is the owner of Casa Kids on Ferris Street between Coffey and Van Dyke (106 Ferris Street), said that he missed getting an important package on the day of the meeting and wanted to know what could be done about this.

“There was a huge crew that was filming so the UPS truck could not back up and come back to the business,” Gil said. “Is this the proper place to complain about excessive film shoots?”
“The mayor’s office of film and TV production and also the Community Board is the best place to complain,” Armer told Gil. “Unfortunately, the 76th, as does a few other precincts, is a prime place and location for filming movies and TV shows. NYC goes out of their way to make these production companies welcome.”
Gil added that every other week he has complaints regarding film shoots. Customers can’t find parking. This was the first time that a film crew prevented a package from being delivered.

The Community Board says hi

Mike Racciopo, who is the new District Manager for Community Board Six, came to remind everyone about the October full board meeting that was going to be happening the next week.
Community Board Six has their meetings the second Wednesday of the month. The LinkNYC kiosks have details in bright green detailing where the meetings will be.

The politicos

There were representatives from a few elected officials at the meeting that share information.
Carlos Menchaca is the NYC Council Member for District 38, which includes Red Hook. A worker in his office said that they have kicked off their participatory budgeting. They get input from community members on how to spend $2.5 million of the capital budget.
They are looking to include input from people who live in Red Hook on how to spend the $2.5 million. They are trying to get more people involved in budget allocation and need help deciding the projects that will be chosen to improve the community.

Karen Broughton, who is from Assistant Speaker Felix Ortiz’s office, said that they are planning a few events and one of them will be one around Thanksgiving.

They have also been working on projects relating to the NYCHA development in Red Hook since there is lots of construction happening and more to come.

“The corridor on Clinton street is basically vacant now,” Broughton said. “Everyone has moved out. That is because they have to raise it to flood level. All of the tenants are gone. They are looking to move in February.

It is unknown now how long everyone will be in temporary housing. The apartments will on the corridor on Columbia Street across from Ms. Marshall’s office.

Nathan Weiser