Monday, April 24, 2017

70th Precinct Community Council 
MARCH 2017 Meeting Minutes

E-mail: HYPERLINK "mailto:70PctCC@gmail.com"70PctCC@gmail.com
Blog: HYPERLINK "http://70PctCC.blogspot.com"http://70PctCC.blogspot.com

Wednesday, March, 29th 2017
7:30 PM
P.S. 249  The United Cerebral Palsey Center 
175 Lawrence street, Brooklyn, New York  Officers 

Ed Powell, President
Mary McRae, Vice President
Maria Hazelwood, Treasurer
Nathan Thompson, Secretary
Giselle Nakhid, Sergeant-at-Arms

NYPD, Elected Officials & Other Guests

DI James Palumbo, Commanding Officer 
Captain OMalley, Executive Officer 
Detective Scott Nuzzi, Community Affairs
Det. Kim Walker, Community Affairs
Dale Degale Congresswoman Yvette Clarke
Mike Gregorio for Senator Felder 
Shawn Campbell for Community Board 14
Renee Luciano (new member) for Community Board 14
Becky Stern for Councilmember Greenfield
Taryn O’Brien for Kings County DA’s Office
Bob Moskowitz for Flatbush Shomrim
Jacob Gold for Council Member Jumaane Williams
Walter McQueen for East 21st Street Tenant
Emmanuel Venbruan for Tennis Court Tennants Association
Soumia Chraibi for Council Member Mathieu Eugene
Ramona Cabreja for Council Member Mathieu Eugene
Himself Assemblymember Robert Carroll
Rona Taylor for Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte
Vicky May for  The Street Vendor Project
Imani Henry for  Equality for Flatbush
Pinkus Hikind for  Comptrollers Office
Penny Ringel for the Mayors Office
Reverend Jean F. Beaulieu, Mohommad Nazir, Rabbi Perlstein, Minister John Williams and Yahuda Eps Clergy Liaisons
Roz Sokol for Steve Cymborwitz
Tovah Chasinough for Councilmember Duetsch 
Wayne Lamont and Walter Mqueen  for East 21st Block Association
Eric Kumar and Taryn OBrien for District Attorneys Office
Valentin Morales  Vamos Unidas
Aziz Hutt and Javed Khan for Pakistani Merchants Assoc


The regular monthly meeting of the 70th Precinct Community Council was called to order.  PCC President Ed Powell greeted all and invited everyone to join him in the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.  

He then acknowledged the various representatives of public officials and other distinguished guests present at the meeting (see above). 


1.  Jake Gold from City Councilmember Jumaane Williams office.
     Jake announce a town hall meeting at the Nostrand Community Center on Kings Highway.  The meeting is centered around and area that borders 3 precincts.  Many agencies to let you know about their services.  April 5th info session on lean sales. The session is designed to let you know how to protect yourself from lean threats.  He also mentioned that they have immigration legal advice.  


2.  Dale Degale from Yvette Clarkes Office
  She announced a Community Town Hall on Immigration, Healthcare and gun violence.
It takes place on Wednesday April 19 at 8pm.  4905 Avenue D.  Everyone is invited.



3.  Eric Kumar from the District Attorneys Office
        On April 14th is their signature event now being copied all over the country. the legal aid attorneys are present to clean up open warrants.  Regarding immigration, Kumar stressed that they do not ask for immigration status when chronicling crimes.  He clarified that this is not the district attorneys interest.  They want to catch criminals. He brought up the importance of a new real estate fraud unit.  Then he introduced Taryn Obrien to say a few words about the loss of Officer Mike Smith on behalf of the whole green zone at the District Attorneys Office.


 4. Ben Seigel from Councilmember Greenfields Office 
    Ben said a few words about Mike.  Then moved to business.  He explained that Not For Profits ought to contact his office if they are having landlord problems.  He also explained that "Councilman" Greenfield is doing Participatory Budgeting.  He urged his constituency to pick up a ballot from him and submit.


5.  Commanding Officer Palumbo speaks
      The CO started by explaining that he had planned to use the "Cop Of The Month" award for Mike Smith had we not lost him unexpectedly.   He expressed his appreciation for PCC members support at this time.  He then invited Rabbi Perlstein up to say a few words about Mike Smith.




6.  Rabbi Perlstein speaks about Mike Smith
Rabbi Perlstein chose to use a metaphorical story about marriage to illustrate his appreciation for police in general.  "A police officer never expires, their memory goes on forever"  




9.) Commanding Officer Palumbo Speaks.
    The CO started off with the bad news. There was a gang related shooting (our first for the year) for which the NCOs had been helpful in identifying the shooter.  The victims also are cooperating (something which we do not take for granted) and they expect to pick up the perpetrator soon.  This appears to be a Crips/Bloods exchange.  
     At this point last year, we had 3 shootings, so this being our first for the year is a step in the right direction.  Over all crime is down 21% in the 28 day period for index crimes statistics.  We are only showing increases in grand larceny.   Year to date we are down 7.5% for the average in all index crimes.
  Grand Larceny auto is the biggest uptick.  Hondas and Nissans are being taken from Parkside to Kinds Highway all over the precinct.  Ford Econoline Vans and Hondas are vehicles of choice.  


      
       
10.) The CO takes questions/comments from the PCC Group
   Paul Littman with a grassroots group in support of the ACLUs "Freedom Cities Campaign".  They wanted to go over the 9 point program that the ACLU has put out regarding the rights of immigrants.  They introduced the list.  The CO acknowledged that he received the list and explained he did not want to go through all of them at the meeting.  The group requested a meeting with the CO later to go over specifically the information.  The rep also asked the group how many people were there in support of the this point and at least 20 people raised hands.  The CO agreed to a meeting and went on to clarify that the Commissioner had specified that "they are not assisting ICE on immigration enforcement."  "We are not inquiring about status.  Any services they need are at their disposal, no questions asked."  He explained that the NYPD are also working with local religious institutions to communicate these rules.  
  He also pointed out Dominic Scotto who happened to be visiting from 1 Police Plaza and is in charge of dealing with just such issues.  Dominic introduced himself.
   Another citizen asked about a car that was regularly parked on the sidewalk by his home.  The CO told him to let the Community Affairs Officers know where the problem was.  
   A woman explained that her Trump sign was torn down and her house egged.  She heard that the police could not do anything.  The CO explained that the country is very divided right now.  And that they would follow up on any such crimes, especially if there is video.  "We are not going to spend tonight getting into politics." he explained,  and moved on to real crime issues.  
     A woman identified herself as living on the block where the shooting (mentioned earlier) was.  She wants to know what is being done that is causing the drop in the crime.
The CO explained that he feels it is "precision policing" and cited the NCOs as a new source of information.   "It's a partnership" he explained.   The woman asked if there was an age range of likely criminals.  The CO explained that the age range statistics change depending on the crime.  Robbery is mostly juvenile driven, 13 to 16 years old. "But when you look at burglary, you are looking at 26 to 45." the CO explained.  Grand larcenies have a wide range.  And shooting incidents are 25 to 30 years old.  
    The woman was specifically asking about having a party on Ocean Avenue and wanted to have a realistic place and time.  The CO agreed to meet with her privately to set up a time.
     The ACLU team spoke up again to re-iterate that they want a sit down to go over the ACLUs 9 point plan.  The CO said to set it up with Community Affairs. 
      A resident from 55 Lenox Road wanted to compliment the NCO's on their attention of late.  But she wanted to draw attention to the end of school coming and her concern that music would be blasting soon.  The CO told his NCOs to get on it.  It was the last question.

11. Ed Powell introduces Minister John Williams
      The minister invited us to a meeting about "sanctuary churches", attendees would include a range of public servants and legal attorneys.   For instance he highlighted the increase in sobriety stops.  His concern is that the stops are a cover for asking questions that usually could not be asked.
   He then brought up the "island of Flatbush" that includes CB14 down to Kings Highway.  He cited a new form of Diabetes that specifically affects Afro/Latino people.  It is actually called the "Flatbush Diabetes'.  The good news is that is can be reversed if caught early.  They are having an EXPO with 120 churches to get the word out.  

Ed Powell closed the meeting.  

Respectfully submitted,


Nathan Thompson

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