76th Precinct NCOs at Pioneer Works

The 76^th Precinct Sector C Neighborhood Coordination Officers held their June quarterly meeting on the third floor of Pioneer Works. Officers Class and Jovin discussed issues with the 15 community members present.

Grand Larceny

There has been an increase of grand larceny thefts in the area recently and the NCOs urge residents to be more careful and pay more attention especially with the arrival of summer.

“People like to leave their windows open or their doors unlocked,” Officer Class said. “Some people leave their garage open and step away for a second and go inside. There are people out there who just walk by if there is a garage open and then walk inside and take this unattended bicycle.”

Many ATMs have been broken into including the downstairs ATM at Brooklyn Crab.

IKEA

The NCOs have been conducting an operation called Lucky Bag to deal with stolen belongings. It has been a common occurrence for people to shop in IKEA with their bags, then walk around with their shopping cart, turn around for their personal belongings and find that someone has stolen a wallet, cell phone or entire bag.

“We have done flyer operations and have walked the entire IKEA several times,” Officer Jovin said. “We found people without their bags and look for them and say, ‘I could have easily stolen your bag.

Noise complaints

There have been an increase noise complaints and violations recently and the officers are paying attention to this issue. There is a code called code 113, which has been around since 2005, which allows a noise violation to be given after a certain amount of offenses. Officer Jovin said that from the 10 pm until 7 am is considered quiet hours, which means that the decibel levels during this period are supposed to be a good bit lower than during the day.

Officer Jovin showed his NYPD issued sound meter that measures decibel levels. This device can help issue the proper summons if someone is living on top of a bar or has a noisy neighbor that is making too much noise or is blasting music at 2:00 or 3:00 am. The sound meter measures decibels in the room. When someone is talking normally it is at 72.

“If there is a noisy neighbor or event that blasts music, then feel free to contact us,” Officer Jovin said. “We can come to your apartment and take a measurement of you normal decibels that way at any point in the night if they go beyond the decibel limit you can inform us and we will issue the proper summons to the event space or bar. This is one way we are going to try to enforce noise complaints.”

Officer Class encouraged everybody to take pictures and video whenever there is excess noise. People can call or text. Officer Class’s email is [email protected] and Officer Jovin’s email is [email protected].

Trucks

A neighborhood resident asked about specific truck lengths that are allowed in Red Hook. He has had an issue with trucks idling for many minutes and has tried calling 311 when he sees this happening. Officer Class says it is a better idea to contact her or Officer Jovin directly as they have issues summonses for these issues.

Leroy Branch, who works for the Department of Transportation, said the allowed truck length is 55 feet and that they are allowed three minutes to stay in one place.

Traffic light

Another neighborhood resident said two or three years ago a kid was killed at the intersection of Lorraine and Hicks in the morning highlighting the fact that cars need to go slower on Lorraine. The IKEA shuttles go down Lorraine, the buses go down Lorraine, there are cars double parked and he thinks a traffic light or even a cross walk should be at the corner of Lorraine and Columbia. He thinks the IKEA shuttles should go on Bay Street instead.

“We work hand in hand with IKEA, so we can get in touch with their management and discuss and alternative route for the shuttle buses,” Officer Jovin said. “We can suggest they take Bay Street.

Parking

A concern was brought up about not being able to park around the four softball fields that are currently closed along Lorraine Street. A request was brought up to be able to have parking allowed from 6 pm until 7 am before and after there is work being done in the fields because people often have to park a long way away.

“What happens is if you let people park overnight when 8:00 am comes people will not leave,” Branch said. “Now we have to worry about towing people. They can’t work if there are cars around that location. After they cap off the park, then we can say let’s restore parking in the evening because then there is no issue with contamination.”

“Once they take the three or four feet of top soil off and cap it, that is when there can be a change (with parking),” Armer said. “As they are doing it, they are spraying it to try to keep the dust inside. “Leaving a car there to get covered with the dust opens up the city to problems because the dirt is scosntaminated.”

Redemption Church

Starting July 10 (6:00 pm, Redemption Church will start their summer cookouts. They will be every following Wednesday and will be free for the community. A goal of Redemption Church is to bridge the gap between the community and law enforcement.

Nathan Weiser