A Marine Corps veteran who led combat missions in the Korean War has organized a security patrol to make sure Halloween mischief-makers in Gerritsen Beach are kept in check.
Gerritsen Beach Property Owners’ Association President George Broadhead has put together a brigade of like-minded neighbors who want to ensure a repeat of last Halloween — when wilding teens out “bombing” on Gerritsen Avenue pelted cars and two city buses with eggs and stones — doesn’t occur by cruising trouble spots and looking for teenagers who are up to no good on Oct. 31.
“We’re going to reconnaissance our whole area,” said Broadhead, who earned a Silver Star while in the armed forces. “We’re going to be everywhere.”
That wasn’t the case last year, when teens’ activities on All Hallow’s Eve fractured the community after the website GerritsenBeach.com reported the events — posting a detailed account that including pictures of teens allegedly involved taken from their Facebook pages.
The report prompting criticism from residents who said cops from the 61st Precinct didn’t do enough to stop the fiasco from spiraling out of control.
Broadhead said his patrol will work closely with police by monitoring Gerritsen Avenue and neighboring side streets, but declined to reveal how many people will be involved or how they’ll move around the neighborhood.
In September, Deputy Inspector Georgios Mastrokostas told members of the 61st Precinct Community Council that he plans to put more boots on the ground this Halloween to keep miscreants in line.
“We’ll deploy more resources,” said Mastrokostas. “I don’t want a repeat of last year.”
Reach reporter Daniel Bush at dbush@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-8310.
