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NYPD's new neighborhood safety teams to roll out Monday, police commissioner says
By
David Cruz
Published Mar 11, 2022
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NYPD
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David Cruz
Published Mar 11, 2022
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The NYPD plans to roll out its new neighborhood safety teams on Monday, a unit that's long been billed as critical unit to Mayor Eric Adams' plan for reducing gun violence across the city, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell announced Friday.
The announcement comes amid an increase in overall major crime across the city. It also comes as Adams was consistently pressed on when the teams would be deployed.
"In the beginning when we started discussing these teams we said we were going to do an extensive amount of vetting and training," Sewell said at a news conference Friday. "And we were going to roll the initiative out. That initiative will be activated this Monday, [March] 14."
A total of 25 teams consisting of five officers each will be deployed starting Monday, and focused on removing guns off the streets. Sewell said parts of the discussion in preparation for the much-anticipated teams involved examining the "mistakes of the past."
"The officers are being trained in the constitution, community interaction, car stops, use of force," Sewell said. "What we really want to emphasize is there's a community component to this training as well where we talk to the community and find out exactly what the changes are that they like to see, what their concerns were in the past and what they can speak to moving forward."
From the days of the campaign trail to leading the city, Adams has sought to bring crime down as a way of charting a pathway to economic recovery. The most available police statistics show major crime is up 47% across the city compared to the same time a year ago. Crime in every major category, including murder and assault, are up. Shootings have also increased compared to the same time last year, with the number of incidents up 14% from 168 to 192. The number of shooting victims has also jumped from 181 to 215 the same time last year, an 18.8% spike.
Police reform groups and lawmakers have worried that the neighborhood safety teams will be akin to the anti-crime teams that were disbanded under Mayor Bill de Blasio. At the news conference Friday, Chief of Department Kenneth Corey said officers from these teams have been trained in "minimal force techniques."
"They receive advanced tactics, car stops, de-escalation is central, communication skills is a big part of that,” Corey said.
Sewell also insisted that unlike the anti-crime team, in which plainclothes officers rode in unmarked police cars, neighborhood safety teams will be clearly identifiable.
“The uniform on the back plainly states ‘NYPD Police,’" she said. "They are there for the safety of the community and to get the violent offenders off the streets."
When asked when she expects results from the team, Sewell said she certainly expects them "right away."
"They need to have time to get out there and be effective," Sewell said.
Tagged
nypd
eric adams
David Cruz
David is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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