Mayor Eric Adams speaks on the Billie Vacation Theatre in Restoration Plaza on July 28, 2022 within the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn borough in New York Metropolis.
Picture by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Pictures
New Yorkers love their metropolis, however they’re very clear about what they don’t love about residing right here: noise, trash, unlawful merchandising, open-air drug use, reckless driving, double parking, and different on a regular basis offenses. These and plenty of different quality-of-life points have an effect on not simply the fact of public security, however the feeling of security that makes life in our metropolis potential.
As we’ve got so typically stated, public security is about extra than simply crime statistics; it’s about what folks see and really feel after they stroll out their entrance door. That’s the reason, earlier this 12 months, we launched a pilot program launching our new NYPD High quality of Life Division, and the primary 60 days have been a powerful success.
In simply six pilot instructions, our localized, precinct-based “Q-Groups” have answered greater than 7,500 complaints for quality-of-life associated offenses. Utilizing “Q-Stat” — a program modeled after CompStat — our Q-teams have made greater than 350 arrests and issued over 6,100 summonses. They’ve towed practically 3,500 deserted autos, seized roughly 200 unlawful e-bikes, mopeds and scooters, shut down problematic smoke outlets, cleaned up encampments, and helped folks residing on the streets join with companies.
The influence was instant and plain, and now we’re gearing as much as develop our Q-teams citywide. Beginning subsequent month, Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn will begin seeing Q-teams on the streets, combating the low-level crime, dysfunction and chaos that, left unchecked, can undermine public security and public confidence. Queens, Staten Island, and all remaining Police Service Areas will observe shortly in August.
This enlargement can’t occur quickly sufficient. After we take a look at what these groups have already completed in simply two months and all the issues that they’ve solved, it’s clear why we’re scaling it up on such an aggressive timeline.
However whereas our timeline could also be aggressive, our strategies and motivations will not be. These efforts will not be about making arrests or bringing again the “damaged home windows” fashion policing of the previous; it’s about responding to actual complaints from actual folks in actual time, and fixing the problems they’re coping with every single day. This program isn’t about making arrests; it’s about making a distinction.
Since day one, our administration has been clear: We won’t tolerate an environment the place something goes, and we’ve got made file progress in delivering a safer metropolis for New Yorkers. We at the moment are in our sixth straight quarter of reducing crime, with the bottom variety of shootings and homicides in recorded historical past for the primary 5 months of this 12 months.
The fact is that the overwhelming majority of New Yorkers haven’t been the sufferer of crime; most haven’t even witnessed one. However what all of us have lived with is the sluggish and gradual breakdown of the issues that make a neighborhood really feel like dwelling. That’s what our Q-Groups are out to vary. Going ahead, New Yorkers might be assured that we’re addressing chaos and dysfunction each time we discover it.
Whether or not it’s scooters flying down the sidewalk, noise that retains you up at night time, or an deserted automobile that hasn’t moved in a month, our Q-Groups will reply.
We’re dedicated to protecting New York the most secure massive metropolis in America, and the most effective place to boost a household. We’re doing that by making it even safer, cleaner, and extra attentive to the individuals who stay and work right here. We’ll hold listening and we’ll hold adapting, working carefully with communities to construct neighborhoods the place everybody feels secure and at dwelling.
