Fort Greene Association: Bring Back the Beat Cop!

Crime is up 11 percent, and the Fort Greene Association is spearheading a movement to bring back the beat cop.  

Back in the early nineties Police Commissioner Kelly and Mayor Dinkins started the Safe Streets program which included beat cops. The FGA says this brought about a decline in crime and "fostered the renaissance of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill." But the program seems to become mired in the budget morass.

A beat cop is a police officer who patrols a specific neighborhood, called a “beat.” He or she becomes well-known and helps to create a positive relationship between law enforcement and the community. Community Policing is the modern offshoot of the historical beat cop.

In 1990, the NYPD selected the 72nd precinct in Brooklyn to test the Community Policing model. According to Crime and Delinquency, results showed that officers "had favorable impressions of community policing and that they were able to identify residents' concerns and develop effective methods for solving neighborhood problems."

The FGA wants you to write to Police Commissioner Kelly to urge him to put the cops back on the beat. See FGA's letter here.

Photo by Video4net, Creative Commons license.

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