Comments on: Uptowners, Police Clash Over Quality of Life Complaints

By: mardin

mardin — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 20:26:12 +0000

Let me start by stating good post. Im not confident if it has been talked about, but when using Chrome I can never ever get the entire site to load without refreshing numerous times. Could just be my computer. Thanks.

By: Sleepless in Wahi

Sleepless in Wahi — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:28:05 +0000

“Why is everyone blaming the cops?”

I don’t know, maybe it’s because they can’t seem to *do their jobs*? Calling 911 is worthless, it’s for emergencies only so unless you lie to the dispatcher (and feel like a big fine or potential jail time) to get someone to show up, they’ll just remind you that 911 is for emergencies only.

34th is utterly worthless. Called in a noise complaint last night. Watched for about an hour from my fire escape as a whopping *nothing* happened. None showed up. I went to check the status of the complaint online and learned that, according to the 34th, police *had* arrived after just 45min: “The Police Department responded to the complaint and determined that police action was not necessary.” Needless to say, unless they were driving their brand new invisible police cars and wearing their matching invisible uniforms, no such “response to the complaint” was ever made.

What a bunch of lazy a**holes. Apparently if they aren’t going to get a chance to shot and kill some unarmed black or Latin teenagers, the call isn’t worth responding to.

By: FedupNYer

FedupNYer — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:12:40 +0000

Why is everyone blaming the cops? The real problem is the culture. It is a culture of disregard and disrespect. I never call 311. I dial 911. Take photos, take video, send to Mayor and demand from your public servants (state reps, etc.) that people need to be locked up if they disregard the law. Period.

By: Elizabeth Porter

Elizabeth Porter — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:12:37 +0000

Resident from Washington Heights
34th being understaffed is a separate issue. We have some really bad cops in the precinct, especially during the night shift .They have attitude and spend the night shift playing games at the computer. Capul does not even know what goes on there.

By: Resident from Washington Heights

Resident from Washington Heights — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:23:54 +0000

Some of the officers in the 34th falsify their 311 status updates.

If you report a noise complaint via 311 please follow up on it. I’ve seen plenty of updates claiming that summonses were given out or the problem was taken care of even though i never witness anyone from the 34th show up to take care of the problem.

So if the 34th are giving summonses how come do i see the SAME individuals night after night playing their crappy music at full volume till 5 am?

By: Maggie Clarke

Maggie Clarke — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:31:14 +0000

I too have experienced the 34th’s inaction and Capul’s justifications. I stopped going to those community meetings because they are a giant waste of time. I am a co-organizer of Dyckman-Inwood Noise Action (aka DIN Action) which started over a year ago because of the decade of noise on West Dyckman St. I urge everyone to join DIN action (see the website). If we had everyone who was angry about noise as members, then we could make some headway downtown. Clearly this is a decision that has been made by Bloomberg and his upper level people (i.e. to understaff the 34th) as well as bad attitude on the part of the 34th itself. We have an ongoing 311/911 call database, that has great potential IF we can get everyone making the calls. The community board tells us that NYC DEP pays attention only to these calls, and not to calls to the 34th.

By: Inwood Resident

Inwood Resident — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:31:50 +0000

Regarding those police statistics that were cited (“three [murders] last year versus 103 in 1990″), people should understand that the 1990 statistics that are published online by the NYPD for the 34th Precinct are deliberately misleading and should be completely ignored. This is because back in 1990 the area of the 34th Precinct also included what is now the 33rd Precinct. Therefore, the numbers of crimes still being reported for the 34th precinct for 1990 include crimes that occurred in what is now an entirely separate precinct. That column of data in the weekly statistics report is therefore utterly useless as a basis for comparison with later years.

In other words, the 34th Precinct apparently takes pride in itself based on lies.

By: Peggy

Peggy — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:51:48 +0000

A family member recently had a chunk of cement thrown at him by one of a group of five teens outside my building on Bennett Avenue — he was on the sidewalk across from the 190th Street A Train entrance. It was at 8PM on a Tuesday evening. He sustained a minor injury and the police did come to take the report. Of course the little criminals were long gone by that time. And, not one single person who witnessed this fracas did anything at all — they walked along as if nothing was going on and they didn’t want to get involved. We can’t expect the police to be everywhere all the time. As a community, we cannot stand by and watch our neighbors be victims of crime and not even call the police ourselves. One of the things mentioned in the community meeting that I attended was that they get more officers if City Hall deems it necessary — so we also need to start writing and calling our local officials to support our precinct’s efforts to handle crime. A liaison from the District Attorney’s office was at the meeting to emphasize that crime victims (as well as those who report crimes) are not going to be responded to depending upon their immigration status. We have to act as one community no matter where we’re from and ask and expect more. Saying that the neighborhood is better than it used to be isn’t good enough. Everyone, including the police, needs to act accordingly.

By: Lifelong Resident

Lifelong Resident — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:40:45 +0000

I’ve been told by cops who responded to my noise complaints that “this is the way this neighborhood is; if you don’t like it, move.”

By: Seaman Drake

Seaman Drake — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 03:51:00 +0000

No question that while overall stats are good, quality of life issues are completely ignored by the 34th. Smashed car windows, loud sidewalk parties, thuggish kids causing problems — all could be solved by a more persistent police presence, but foot officers are nonexistent and cruisers are rarely seen. Thank god I live in the quiet corner of Inwood, because the rest of the area can get out of control quickly.

Inwood needs its own precinct so that the 34th can focus on Washington Heights.