Red Hook Dustup at Police Meeting Story and photo by Nathan Weiser

On the first Wednesday of each month, the community council of the 76th precinct brings together the police and the public. The latest meeting was held this past November 7th, and was host to some sadness as well as a touch of nuttiness.

Council president Jerry Armer began the meeting with the sad news.“Last April, Marie Gambardella, who was the receptionist here, retired after 47 years,” Armer said. “This past weekend she passed away and the wake and funeral were on Monday and Tuesday.”

The police commissioner himself came to honor Marie at her retirement party.

Deputy Inspector Commanding Officer Megan O’Malley thanked everyone.

“The turnout was an overwhelming show of support at the wake, funeral and on social media,” O’Malley said. “This is a testimony to this women’s life. She left a legacy. We appreciate it, and I know her family is astonished.”

Crime Statistics
Crime for the last four-week period is down 14 percent and the precinct area is down three percent for the year.

In the traffic side of things, O’Malley remarked that things are going well. They are down six percent year to date with pedestrian and bicycle collisions having decreased.

O’Malley advised being careful when having packages delivered to your home.

“It is the holiday season and try to have packages delivered where they can be received by somebody and signed for,” O’Malley said. “Most package thefts are a misdemeanor, and this is something we would rather avoid happening.”

Neighborhood Coordination Officers (NCO)
There are two sectors that cover Red Hook and they both have quarterly. Sector C, which covers Van Brunt Street down to Fairway and IKEA, meets on Wednesday, December 12 at the Red Hook Library at 6:30.
Officer Rueda, who is one of the two NCOs for Sector D, gave more specifics of the community-oriented Build the Block program.
“If you do not want to say something in front of everybody, we can take you aside,” Rueda said. “You can ask a question if you have a problem that is more sensitive. If you want everybody to know about a car parked in the corner for four hours seven days a week we will take care of it.”

Red Hook Houses
An area resident wanted to know who patrols the projects, especially Red Hook East, as she doesn’t think there has been as much of a presence as there used to be.

The resident wants to see the policing increase since it has diminished recently and also wants to see the scaffolding do down. She has seen increased drug criminal activity and undesirable people in her building due to it not being locked.

O’Malley said that all the NYCA developments are under the PSA1. However, everything in the 76th Precinct is coordinated between PSA1 and the rest of the 76th Precinct officers.

“Everything we do is in partnership,” O’Malley said. “It does not matter to us or to housing who is covering it as long as it is controlled. I have to say that the presence this summer in Red Hook was tremendous.”

“Crime is down significantly, everybody had a great enjoyable summer,” O’Malley said. “We had the Old Timers and Family Days with zero incidents. For us not to have to engage in any negative enforcement action implied that community participation was 100 percent.”