Citywide patterns seen in the 102nd Smoke shop safety, enforcement and more during council meeting

by Deirdre Bardolf Editor

Cop of the Month is pretty regular business at precinct community council meetings but this month, a civilian was also honored at the 102nd Precinct event.

Felix Williams, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority employee from Richmond Hill, was recognized on Tuesday night for pushing to finally get the area under the decommissioned Babbage Street train tracks cleaned up.

“As an MTA employee, if I see something, I got to say something,” Williams told the Chronicle.

What he saw catching the Q10 on his daily commute was garbage piling up as well as the squatter that many say had a key to the fencedoff area under the tracks that had become a dumping ground, including for restaurants.

Then came the rats, which Williams said were running rampant, even terrorizing the nearby Classic Diner.

So he got in touch with Simcha Waisman, president of the community council, and they reached out to the Long Island Rail Road, which owns the land.

Then, as the Chronicle reported at the end of January, a daylong, multiagency operation tackled the spot, bringing in dump trucks that removed 12 loads of illegally dumped debris and securing the gate.

Since taking over as commanding officer of the 102 nine months ago, Capt. Jeremy Kivlin said he would “consistently” hear about the issues near the tracks, which are adjacent to the Richmond Hill Library.

“Obviously there are some challenges there but [Williams] did facilitate the cleanup of that area and since this was such a big community complaint and the police were struggling with it and he was able to help us out with it and help the community, we decided to give him an award for this and we’ll be doing this going forward,” said Kivlin.

Kivlin reported a 7 percent decrease in crime compared to last year. There has been a slight increase in felony assaults, mostly for domestic violence. He said that the clearance rate for those crimes is over 90 percent.

“We are making the outreach,” he said. “We’re going out. We’re visiting the families that are experiencing this violence in hopes to rectify the situation, stop the violence, arrest the perpetrator. And we’re doing it at a 97 percent rate. So we do believe by continuing to do that, you will see the felony assaults go down.”

Also up slightly are car thefts, believed to be fueled by a social media challenge that shows how to hotwire Kias and Hyundais. The pattern has been seen across the country, according to reports, and the NYPD too saw a surge in thefts of the two makers.

“In the past two weeks, we’ve made two great grand larceny arrests, one being a Kia, which we believe is the TikTok challenge,” said Kivlin.

The car was found on Park Lane South, where Kivlin said the precinct is seeing a “cluster” of vehicle thefts, possibly because of the proximity to the Jackie Robinson Parkway.

“So if you park the car in that area, make sure you park it under a camera or somewhere well-lit, because that’s kind of where we’re seeing it,” he said.

Other cars are being stolen using key fob signal-boosting techniques, which allow bandits to get push-tostart cars.

Kivlin addressed petit larceny in the area, too, echoing citywide stats that retail thefts are down. NYPD Chief Mike Lipetri said in a public safety briefing last week that there were 4,276 shoplifting complaints in February compared to 4,757 the year prior.

Kivlin also supported a push from the mayor and top NYPD brass for customers to remove face masks before entering stores to prevent theft. After a Flushing jewelry store was robbed of around $1.1 million in merchandise last week, NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said in a press conference, “The one thing that we’re seeing way too often is that people are going into the business with masks and it makes it very hard to identify them once something goes on.”

Maddrey continued, “It can be a condition of entry that a mask is removed and once the person is iden- percent for this year. tified, they can put their mask back on for safety.”

Kivlin said police have been saying that for months.

“At the end of last year, we were taking a lot of robberies at these smoke shops. And one of the things my crime prevention officer and I talk about, and we were communicating to the owners of these smoke shops, is if you’re going to let people in, make sure you have a door buzzer and have a camera at the door and if they’re coming in with masks, pull that mask down so everybody can see on camera who they are,” he said.

Kivlin said a smoke shop was robbed last weekend after the owner buzzed in the crooks.

“If he had kept the door closed and not buzzed them in, or made them pull their mask down, this probably wouldn’t have happened. We’ve been doing it for about six or seven months now. That’s something we’ve been talking with the local businesses who have this money on hand ... And I think that’s contributed to our decrease, to be honest with you.”

Kivlin said robberies are down 52

The Cops of the Month were Officer Christopher Harris, a 16-year veteran of the 102, and Officer Connor O’Keefe, a rookie, who were working together when a call came in for a robbery in progress. The officers found a minor who was in town visiting friends beaten and robbed near the London Planetree Playground. After giving him aid, Harris and O’Keefe canvassed the area and pursued three individuals who matched the descriptions. Kivlin said O’Keefe tackled two of them and Harris pursued the other, who entered a home. They were arrested and five knives were recovered.

A resident asked Kivlin how many shoplifters are really prosecuted and convicted. Kivlin said the District Attorney’s Office is charging them differently now, grouping several petit larceny offenses together to be charged as grand larceny.

“I can tell you that in many cases they’ve actually been able to keep some of these petit larceny recidivists in jail,” he said.

Sam Esposito, president of the Ozone Park Residents Block Association, asked if neighborhood coordination officer outreach similar to what was done at the Atlantic Avenue Stop & Shop could be replicated for the nearby CVS before another pharmacy is forced to close due to shoplifting.

“If you have a location that you don’t think we’re currently doing something like that at, then absolutely we’ll get somebody over there,” Kivlin told Esposito.

He also said another meeting could be set up with the 86th Street shelter in regard to Esposito’s concerns about the location.

Kivlin spoke of ongoing efforts to police the illegal marijuana dispensaries, including collaborations with the New York City Sheriff’s Office and the state Department of Taxation and Finance.

The precinct has also submitted nuisance abatements for four of the most problematic spots. Nuisance abatement is broken down by type of nuisance, such as violations of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, drugs, gambling and unlicensed establishments, according to nyc.gov. It allows police to close businesses that are the site of repeat criminal activity.

State Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Woodhaven) and Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar (D-Woodhaven) spoke at the meeting. Addabbo lauded recent moves to lock school entrances, for which he has a bill in the Senate, and Rajkumar thanked Kivlin for meeting ahead of Ramadan to prioritize the Muslim community’s safety while they observe.

Kivlin announced that the precinct’s Youth Coordination Officer division has been expanded from two officers to six and YCO Justin Davis spoke of upcoming plans centered on youth.

The community council treasurer, Sandra Datnarain, said the group is in need of donations. It can have up to $50,000 in its reserves, according to the bylaws, she said, and recently had $10,000 but now ... “We’re not doing so well,” Datnarain said. Q