By COLlive reporter
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the NYPD will be installing 100 new security cameras in Williamsburg, Crown Heights and Borough Park. The surveying will begin immediately, and the first 30 cameras will be installed by March.
The NYPD will work with community members to identify the best locations for the remaining 70 cameras with installation to follow for a total of 100 cameras, the mayor’s office said.
As reported on COLlive.com, one of the people petitioning the mayor for surveillance cameras as a method to fight anti-Semitic attacks was Crown Heights community activist Chanina Sperlin.
“Currently, we rely on the footage from cameras installed in private homes, some stores, 770, Jewish Children’s Museum and 1414 dormitory,” Sperlin said last month following the mayor’s visit to 770 Eastern Parkway. “But there are still plenty of places that are in the dark. If something happens, we need footage of the suspects to help bring them to justice.”
This announcement builds on the City’s ongoing efforts to prevent anti-Semitic hate crimes The NYPD has increased deployment in these neighborhoods, and now have over 150 additional officers patrolling and building relationships in the community.
The NYPD’s Intelligence Bureau has also launched the Racially and Ethnically Motivated Extremism Unit (REME), a new unit within the NYPD’s Intelligence Bureau that brings together groups to detect, prevent and investigate domestic terrorism and organized hate groups. The Department has also installed more than 20 light towers in these neighborhoods.
“An attack on the Jewish community is an attack on all New Yorkers. These new security cameras will increase the NYPD’s visibility into these neighborhoods, and help our officers on the ground keep New Yorkers safe,” de Blasio said.
“The NYPD stands with members of the Jewish community. These new security cameras will support our increased patrols and the targeted deployment of Counterterrorism officers at key locations to ensure that everyone is safe,” said Police Commissioner Dermot Shea. “We also need the public’s help—if you see anything suspicious, call 911 or flag down a police officer right away. There is no place for hate in NYC, or anywhere.”
“These investments by the New York Police Department are important tools in our fight against hate crimes,” said Deborah Lauter, Executive Director of the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes. “Along with our commitment to strengthening communities through neighborhood coalitions and providing educational resources for our schools, the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes continues to work alongside New Yorkers to ensure everyone can feel safe in their neighborhood.”
“The weeds of hate will not be allowed to choke away the healthy garden of diversity in Brooklyn. We must use every tool in our toolbox to address the scourge of anti-Semitic assaults in our borough head-on. I support the installation of security cameras and an increased police presence in areas that are seeing the highest concentration of attacks,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.
Councilmember Chaim Deutsch, Chairman of the NYC Council’s Jewish Caucus said, “Cameras are one of the most effective law enforcement tools at our disposal, particularly in regards to combating hate crimes. That’s why I joined with Councilman Kalman Yeger in allocating more than $2 million for cameras in our districts around houses of worship, parks, playgrounds, and schools. I am very pleased and grateful to learn that the Mayor is expanding this with 100 additional cameras, as well as new light towers, and the influx of 150 officers within these targeted communities. These are significant and vital resources in the fight against the hatred and antisemitism that has infiltrated our city.”
This is one part of the City’s ongoing effort to stop anti-Semitism. Earlier in January, the Administration announced the launch of Neighborhood Safety Coalitions in Williamsburg, Crown Heights and Borough Park. These individual coalitions will identify and address issues that drive hate-based crimes, bringing together stakeholders from across their communities. They will meet community members where they are — in schools, on street corners, in religious institutions — to be a regular presence to deter acts of hate.
The coalitions are based on a successful model already used by residents in East Flatbush and Williamsburg/Bushwick through the Mayor’s Office to Prevent Gun Violence, in which community groups, neighborhood leaders, and clergy have worked together with local police precincts to dramatically reduce gun violence in their communities.
The Department of Education is committed to ensuring schools are welcoming, inclusive environments for all students and will be implementing hate crime awareness programming this month for middle and high schools in Williamsburg, Crown Heights and Borough Park, including workshops with community partners and leveraging existing social studies curricula and resources. Curriculum on hate crimes will be launched at middle and high schools in these neighborhoods beginning in the 2020-21 school year. These curriculum resources will also be available to middle and high schools citywide.
We are so happy these cameras are being installed. We need all the security we can get here in Crown Heights and everywhere else.
What will TEACH them to behave? Not cameras. 100 between the three places is not much at all. This will help REACTIveLY. They will be released if caught anyways so what do they care.
is a Moment of Silence in the public schools and increasing the awareness and observance of the 7 Universal Laws of Noach.
Police protection is good, until 10 year olds can print guns c”v…
Then what?
I had a fender bender with a city bus in Saint Johns and Utica Ave. There are police cameras there too. In court it was told those cameras don’t work. I don’t want to be a pessimist but I hope those will. Kudos to Chanina.
Everybody should install a camera. Nowadays it’s easy and makes it safer for everybody. Not only is it a deterrent, someone is watching…., but it also captures perpetrators and helps punish them.
They let the criminals out them within minutes and reward them with all kinds of benefits
These cameras are a big deterrent. They are long overdue. Eventually things will cool down and like in the past the police presence will disappear but there cameras will still remain. It’s about time.
If criminals wear hoodies and ski masks and gloves and run into a subway which of course has no cameras,they get away. If a victim fights back and hurts his attacker then victim gets arrested. Cameras are good where the criminal goes to jail but now the law has become lawless due to the democRATic takeover. After he punches someone in the face he gets out and is entitled to know where the victim lives. Now he can scare the victim into dropping the charges. Plus he also gets to know the information on the witnesses as well who will… Read more »
ANOTHER GREAT FARCE BEING PERPERTRATED ON NEW YORKERS ,THE CRIMINALS WILL STILL BE RELEASED EVEN AFTER BEING CAUGHT ON CAMERA,DOING THEIR OWN THING
I think this is awesome and necessary, but not only in Crown Heightd. How about in the areas where Black and Brown girls are being abducted? There’s alot going on. We all want to be safe.