There's been an uptick in crime recently in my adopted 'hood lately. As the New York Times remarked a few days ago:
In recent months, an old crime has started to reappear... on the border of Clinton Hill and Bedford-Stuyvesant: a spate of muggings that has caught some in the neighborhood by surprise. People walking or biking alone have been attacked with punches, kicks — and in one case, a baseball bat — and then had their cellphones or purses stolen before they could recover.
Source: "Muggings Revive Memories of an Area’s Bad Old Days" by Kareem Fahim
Whether due to this unwanted attention from the city's leading paper or other pressures, I've noticed a much increased presence of NYPD in the area this week. From the mobile command center I spotted sitting on the corner of Myrtle and Steuben to the uniformed officers walking the beat, there is a clear show of force going on in the Hill.
Last night, I listened to a woman ask one cop what it was all about and he admitted it was about the aforementioned crime rise. Nice to know someone heard the calls to action.
My only concern is this: while flexing the law's muscles will surely drive the criminal element into hiding, this will only last as long as the force lasts. Unless progress in identifying, arresting, and prosecuting the criminals is made, all this force will be essentially futile. The cockroaches will come out as soon as the lights go out, so to speak. The lights are on now. How long they stay on, is anyone's guess.
...Clinton Hill, unlike any other NYC neighborhood I’ve lived in, is a place where people know their neighbors. Crime or no crime, let’s just watch out for one another. K?
Source: "Fear-Mongering and Crime" by lesterhead
Quoted for truth.
|