The new approach includes officers interacting with more community members, as well as a larger change in NYPD organization where officers will be assigned to precincts again, as opposed to being assigned to larger “targeted” areas, which Kelly favored. This new approach was also brought about by a 2015 settlement from a lawsuit that was brought in 2010 by NYCHA residents that focused on NYPD policing methods inside NYCHA buildings, including the use of stop-and-frisk and “vertical patrols,” like the one that resulted in Gurley’s death. “Operation Impact is not going away,” Bratton told reporters in January 2014, though he added that he wanted rookies to spend more time with seasoned officers while they were patrolling dangerous neighborhoods.īut in the months following Gurley’s shooting, the NYPD took definitive steps to phase out Operation Impact. Operation Impact was an NYPD initiative created under Bratton’s predecessor, Ray Kelly, and sent inexperienced police officers into what they considered “high-crime areas.” Kelly credited the program as one of the key reasons crime had declined.
Scaffolding covers the walkways of the Pink Houses ( Christian Hansen / Gothamist)
#LITTLE PINK HOUSES YOUTUBE FULL#
Stansfield hasn’t been following Liang’s trial closely, but has noticed that ever since Gurley’s death, the NYPD has been less active doing patrols inside of buildings, with more cops gathering outside of them.Īs we spoke on Autumn Avenue, a van full of officers idled under a block away, on the corner of Linden Boulevard. But ever since they shot the boy in the staircase they make sure the lights work in the hallways.”
“There’s been no proper preparation for the construction and no difference in conditions. It looks like we’re in the penitentiary,” said Lisa Stansfield, 42, who has been living in the Pink Houses since 1989. “Look at this scaffolding, it’s not safe. The residences are now surrounded by scaffolding as part of the repairs, and every single walkway between the buildings is surrounded by bars. The housing authority has set aside $34 million in repairs for the Pink Houses, with construction scheduled to be completed sometime in 2017. Her suit alleges that the housing authority created hazardous and "trap-like" conditions, that contributed to Gurley's death. NYCHA is currently being sued for $50 million by Kimberly Ballinger, Gurley's domestic partner. They’re not cracking down on the big stuff.” I’m not naïve about the law, but if you’re not shooting nobody, you really shouldn’t be the priority. “They go after people that are not doing nothing, smoking weed or whatever. “They’re more into antagonizing people then stepping up and stopping violence,” Turner said. He’s seen more of a police presence at the Pink Houses, but has found that the police are focusing more on quality-of-life violations than serious crimes. The exterminator, he sprayed, but then more roaches come."īrown Turner, who has lived at the Pink Houses for 22 of his 26 years, also complained of deteriorating pipes in the houses, with bathrooms flooding and sinks backing up. "We keep giving them tickets to do the repairs, but nothing happens. “There’s been roaches in the apartment and everything’s falling apart,” Rogers said. Rogers told Gothamist that even though the hallways and stairwells are now better lit, many of the apartments still have major problems with plumbing and vermin. “There’s more NYPD patrols around the buildings, but they sit in their vans, not really going inside the buildings,” said Sean Rogers, 48, who has been living in the Pink Houses with his girlfriend for two years. More than a year after Gurley’s death, Officer Liang is on trial, but residents of the Pink Houses say that little has changed. The lights in the stairwell they descended were broken, and the building’s elevator was unreliable. When NYPD Officer Peter Liang shot and killed 28-year-old Akai Gurley in the stairwell of East New York’s Pink Houses in November of 2014, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton called Gurley’s death an “unfortunate accident.” Yet Liang and his partner were two rookie cops patrolling an area designated by police to be among the most dangerous in the city.
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