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Cops Tell Alarmed Brooklyn Woman That Peeping Tom Photographer Is "Just Part Of The NYC Experience"
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Mar 4, 2020
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Gothamist
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Mar 4, 2020
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At around 8 a.m. on Friday morning, Gracie, a 29-year-old Crown Heights resident, said she was in her nightgown, doing the dishes in her third-floor apartment, when she saw something out of the corner of her eye.
"I get migraines, so I've always just thought it was the beginning of a migraine, with a flash in the corner of my eye," she told Gothamist. She turned around to face her kitchen window, which sits a few feet from a neighbor's window in a shaftway that connects the two buildings.
"I look up and see a man with his head out the window, with a full-on professional camera, a real camera, pointing at me, taking my picture," she said. "I banged on the counter, and locked eyes with him...He took one photo of me looking alarmed and he went back into his window and I went into my bedroom so I was out of view."
Gracie, whose last name we are withholding at her request, said she went to a friend's home nearby and called the police. Two officers, a man and a woman, from the 77th Precinct showed up around an hour later.
"They told me, 'He could have been taking a photo of anything, you should have curtains on your window, there's nothing we can do,'" she said. But they agreed to go back to her apartment with her and look around.
"The male officer said something like, 'Well, this is part of the New York City living experience,"" said Gracie, who is a native New Yorker.
When they got back to her apartment, Gracie said that the officers seemed to better understand her concern. "He's so physically close. If he's bold enough to be taking photos—it's not like someone across the street, he's right here."
The officers said they would try and find the apartment the man was leaning out of, and knock on his door to speak with him. A few minutes later, Gracie said she saw the officers get into their car and drive away. After a few calls to the 77th Precinct, Gracie learned from the person answering the phone that the officers had been unsuccessful.
"At which point I said, 'Can I now file a formal report? Because I'd like to at least have some formal record that this all happened.' And the woman on the phone at the 77th Precinct told me that no, I could not file a report because I didn't have curtains on my window, and if I didn't have curtains on my window, there was nothing to report," Gracie said.
"I then asked what would happen if I catch him taking photos again and she said, 'Well, if your curtain is even slightly open, then the same thing, we wouldn't even be able to file any sort of report.'"
Gracie said she wasn't expecting the police to knock down the man's door and seize his camera. "I understand that is a stretch," she said. "But what really upset me is that I couldn't even file a report. It's when I really broke down. That made me feel like what happened was not taken seriously enough to even have a written record of it. That is what really bothered me the most."
Julie Rendelman, a former Brooklyn prosecutor of 20 years, said that it wasn't particularly clear in this case if a crime—unlawful surveillance—had been committed, because it requires proof of certain kinds of intent, and raises questions about one's expectation of privacy in a window that others can see through.
"Now, the grey line is the fact that he is going out of his way to be able to see into a window that he would not normally be able to see into," Rendelman said, adding that she was "surprised" the police refused to take a written statement.
"When you have an individual doing something like that, there's a risk he's going to do so something much more than that. One would think the police would want to keep note of someone who is behaving that way," Rendelman said. "If they in fact said, 'Get some curtains,' that seems to be quite insensitive."
The NYPD has not responded to our questions about the incident.
Maureen Curtis, the vice president of criminal justice programs at the victims' advocacy group Safe Horizons, said that the organization has advocates stationed in every single police precinct to help people talk about what happened to them and figure out what to do next.
"I think that the really great thing an advocate can do, is to do an assessment that is client-centered, help the person navigate the criminal justice system if that's an option that is available. And if not, look at other things that might be helpful for that person," Curtis said. "Just having that supportive listening—so many of our clients tell us how valuable that is."
Gracie said she has since put curtains and a bar over her windows, and that it's eerie knowing why the sensations she has been feeling in her kitchen over the past few months didn't lead to migraines.
"I've had that exact feeling before, in that exact spot," she said. "It's definitely alarming, now that I know what it was."
Tagged
community policing
unlawful surveillance
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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