By Mark Tanos
The NYPD has agreed to keep uniformed officers away from a two-block stretch of Brownsville, Brooklyn, as part of a city-funded program that replaces police with community group members for low-level offenses.
The Brownsville Safety Alliance operates four times annually on Mother Gaston Boulevard between Sutter and Pitkin avenues. During the program, which runs from noon to 6 p.m., about 20 community members from Brownsville in Violence Out handle 911 calls for minor incidents while uniformed cops stay outside the zone, the New New York (NY) Post reported.
“They’re not gone, but they give us our room to control the block,” said Dushoun Almond, program director of Brownsville in Violence Out. (RELATED: ‘He Was Sending Seniors To Their Death’: Socialist Zohran Mamdani Downplays Anti-Police Tweets)
Officers can still respond to serious crimes like stabbings or shootings. A plainclothes NYPD sergeant shadows the community group, and uniformed officers remain stationed at the edges of the two blocks.
The program launched in 2020 under former Mayor Bill de Blasio. Mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani, a socialist Queens assemblyman, has praised the initiative and visited the zone last April.
Not everyone supports the approach. “It has the potential to go sideways quickly,” a police source told the NY Post. “It’s insane.”
The 73rd Precinct has seen major crime increases this year. Robbery jumped 23%, felony assault climbed 26%, burglary rose 40% and grand larceny increased 30% compared to last year.
Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa called the program “a reckless experiment that invites chaos and puts residents and businesses at risk.”
Most community members interviewed by NY Post welcomed the initiative but doubted it could replace police permanently.
