NYPD's ‘Quality of Life' division expands to all of Manhattan in bid to crack down everyday complaints
The department's Q-Teams were scheduled to start patrols across all 22 police precincts in Manhattan with plans to expand its reach to the rest of the city through July and August.
The effort to grow comes after NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch hailed a pilot program that launched in six sectors in April, battling low-level crimes and nuisances like double-parked cars and open-air drug use.
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NYPD top cop Jessica Tisch hailed the pilot program.
NYC Mayor's Office/YouTube
'When you look at what these teams have already accomplished in just two months and all the problems that they've solved it's clear why we are scaling citywide on such an aggressive timeline,' she said at a mid-June press conference announcing the expansion.
The Bronx will get dedicated Q-Teams on July 21 and Brooklyn will get the specialized crews on July 28. Next will be Queens on Aug. 11 and Staten Island on Aug.18. The city's housing command will rev up Aug. 25, Tisch said.
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The pilot program notched more than 6,100 summonses, including 2,750 for parking and 1,560 for moving, according to city officials.
There were also nearly 500 vehicles towed for violations and 357 arrests. More than 150 mopeds and scooters and 28 e-bikes were also seized.
About 7,500 calls to 911 and the non-emergency line, 311, were responded to during the two-month span.
The ACLU's New York division slammed the growing program, claiming Mayor Eric Adams was trying to replicate crime fighting tactics similar to former Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
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'Cracking down on 'quality of life offenses' is just broken windows policing under a new name – and the latest example of the Adams admin's unwillingness to think beyond the Giuliani playbook,' the NYCLU posted online.
'New Yorkers need investments in services and resources, not in failed policing tactics.'
Adams said New Yorkers need to feel safe.
NYC Mayor's Office/YouTube
Tisch insisted the new team isn't a return to 'zero-tolerance policing' and isn't focused on working to stop larger crimes.
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'It's about improving daily life,' she said.
'Because the vast majority of New Yorkers haven't been the victims of crime, most haven't even witnessed one, but what they lived with is even harder to measure,' Tisch added. 'The gradual breakdown of things that make a neighborhood feel like home.'
The city's Q-Teams combine neighborhood coordination officers, youth coordinator officers and traffic safety officers, according to the city.
The non-emergency calls these units handle include noise problems, inconsiderate drivers, illegal vending, outdoor drug use, reckless scooters and homeless tents.
'We have been successful in bringing down crime,' Mayor Adams said at the June briefing. 'Now we need to match it with people feeling safe.'
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