They go out and address quality−of−life crimes and wind up making a difference.
Dep. Inspector Ralph Monteforte honored the 70th Precinct’s two conditions teams as “Cops of the Month” at the recent community council meeting.
Since their formation about six months ago, the two teams consisting of two sergeants and 15 police officers have made over 600 misdemeanor or felony arrests and have taken four guns off the street, said Monteforte.
Monteforte explained that besides addressing quality−of−life concerns such as noise complaints, marijuana and drinking in public, the conditions team also goes to areas of concern in the precinct where there might be clusters of crime.
Monteforte said the conditions unit is picked from the best patrol officers and then the team works seven days a week at various hours.
They address conditions brought to the precinct’s attention from either 311 complaints or from patrol officers.
“So every day they are doing something different,” said Monteforte, adding they are a major reason crime is down over 22 percent for the year in the precinct.
Monteforte said that once the precinct is alerted to a crime condition, he decides whether the conditions team, anti−crime unit, community policing unit (CPU) or youth officers should be deployed to the area.
If the incident involves a shooting, all units in the command will try to lock up those people, he said.
Monteforte said these various units take down reports and the unsolved crimes goes to the detective bureau, which does investigations.
With the summer around the corner, Monteforte said he expects to deploy the conditions team at times around the Prospect Park Parade Grounds where summer athletic leagues are in full swing.
