NYPD data shows an increase in gun violence during the summer. What they're doing to keep New Yorkers safe
NEW YORK -- With New York City Police Department data showing an increase in gun violence in the city during the summer, officers are on the ground inside neighborhoods, trying to keep people safe.
NYPD's Community Affairs Department aims to keep New Yorkers safe this summer
Members of the NYPD's Community Affairs Department are now rolling into neighborhoods with a new Stop Gun Violence police vehicle.
"A lot of our older adults and our young people are just not feeling safe, so we just wanted to put a car out there to show the community and give them a little hope," said NYPD Det. Tanya Duhaney. "We're going to all community events. We're going to churches. We're going to any area that possibly had a shooting ... It just gives them a sense of security."
It's just one tool to help keep New Yorkers safe this summer.
According to the NYPD, while shootings in the five boroughs are overall down by 9% -- 485 this year, compared to 538 the same time last year -- East New York and Brownsville in Brooklyn, as well as Morrisania and Morris Heights in the Bronx, have seen a spike in crime. Officials say extra officers have been deployed to the neighborhoods.
"The vision is is that we get to know everybody in our communities," said Mark Stewart, the deputy commissioner for NYPD Community Affairs.
He said the NYPD also has dozens of youth summer programs to keep kids off the street and guns out of their hands.
"We probably deal with over 15,000 kids a year," Stewart said. "Community Affairs officers are going to be at the pools, at some pools, and they're gonna be at some parks, too."
NYC community leaders say more still needs to be done to address gun violence
Still, community leaders who walk past bullet holes in their neighborhoods daily and mothers who've had to bury their sons say more needs to be done.
"Having our community realize that death is final," said Margaret Brewer, public safety chairperson for Community Board 16.
Back in 2011, just before summer ended, a young father was gunned down in front of his 2-year-old son in Brooklyn.
"My son was shot like an animal. That the case is still unsolved, and that it's going to be 13 years, still no answers," Monica Cassaberry said. "I have my moments, you know. It's gonna happen, you know. Anniversaries. I don't call it 'anniversary,' I call it 'murder-versary.'"
As the mom of four waits for answers from detectives about who took 22-year-old Jamal Singleton's life, she helps other families impacted by violence through the nonprofit organization Not Another Child.
"I use that pain and that trauma, and I'm turning it into triumph. Because if I allow it to eat me up, how can I help my other kids? How can I help other families?" Cassaberry said.