There’s been a crackdown on quality-of-life offenses in Bay Ridge.
Deputy Inspector Eric Rodriguez, the commanding officer of the 68th Precinct, told members of the precinct’s community council, gathered at the station house, 333 65th Street, for their September meeting, that precinct officers were keeping a close watch on the area around Steadman Square.
Since June, he said, there had been six prostitution arrests — five women and one man — in the area.
In addition, Rodriguez said, there had been nine summonses issued in the area for such infractions as drinking beer in public.
“I have a policy here now with all my cops,” he explained. “They all know, when they make the left turn outside the precinct and go down Third Avenue, every time they see someone sleeping there, drinking there, there has to be some enforcement. It’s something we’re targeting. It’s something they all recognize. It’s something that will be consistently hit.”
In addition, Rodriguez said, after complaints at the June meeting about kids hanging out in the vicinity of 72nd Street and Fifth Avenue, the precinct had reached out to the fathers of some of the young people, with the goal of meeting with them and their children.
That meeting should be taking place shortly, he told the group. In the meantime, members of the precinct’s community affairs go out weekly and talk to the block’s residents, to make sure everything is good.
“So far it has been, because the kids haven’t been around,” Rodriguez reported. However, “Now that’s school’s started, it’s something we are going to continue to keep our eyes on.”
The precinct intends to continue to take the issue seriously. “We recognize that they’re kids, but when you start damaging people’s property, and you start commotions, waking people up, that’s something that we have to take care of, sooner rather than later,” Rodriguez emphasized. “Because if we let it go on, the crowds will get bigger.”
