City leaders said Monday that crime is comparatively lower in precincts with neighborhood coordination officers.
The statistics came as NYC plans to add four more precincts to the program by the end of the month.
“They really get to know the community. They really bond with not only community leaders, but everyday people in the community,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said, speaking in front of the 123rd Precinct in Staten Island, which will see the rollout of the NCO program by April 24. “This is the wave of the future. This is how policing will continue to get better.”
Overall crime decreased 6.2 percent for the first three months of the year, compared with the same time period last year, in NCO commands, where officers are posted to the same spot with the aim of establishing community relationships. In precincts where the NCO program hadn’t been implemented yet, overall crime fell 4.1 percent, according to the NYPD.
Shootings were also way down in NCO commands: There was a 29.5 percent decrease in shootings in NCO commands for first quarter of 2017 compared with the first quarter of 2016. Citywide, shootings fell 23.2 percent for the same time period, according to the NYPD.
Murders were down 8.5 percent in NCO commands for the first three months of the year, compared with last year. In non-NCO commands, murders dropped 13 percent in the same time period.
In addition to the 123rd Precinct, on April 24 the NCO program will add the 25th Precinct in East Harlem, 76th Precinct in Red Hook, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens, and 94th Precinct in Greenpoint.
In July, the 63rd and 83rd Precincts in Brooklyn, and 106th and 115th Precincts in Queens will be added.
That will bring NCO commands to 47 out of the NYPD’s 77 precincts, said Chief of Patrol Services Terence Monahan.
“Neighborhood policing is a philosophical change in the way that we police,” he said. “We allow our cops to resolve problems, we allow our cops to figure out how to provide services working together with the community.
“We trust our officers to have their discretion and to be able to resolve problems on their own,” Monahan added.
Staten Island Borough President James Oddo said he’s a big believer in the neighborhood policing concept.
“Staten Islanders want to know their police officers,” he said. “I buy into the notion that we should train our police officers, equip them as best as we can and then put them out there and allow them to own situations.”
