Sources: NYPD To Approve Small Amounts Of Overtime For Rest Of The Summer In Precincts Hard Hit By Crime
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- With violence on the rise, and police response times on the decline, there are allegations of an NYPD slowdown. But now police say they will start approving small amounts of overtime to curb violence in some precincts.
The caretaker of a Bedford-Stuyvesant church got a second chance at life when the deacon brought him in two decades ago. But that second chance was cut short Monday, when a man with a gun chased the caretaker inside.
He's the latest victim of gun violence this summer, leaving some to ask what police are, or are not, doing, CBS2's Ali Bauman reported.
"He was a good man," Deacon Ronald Stewart said.
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Police surrounded the church on Halsey Street, where its 62-year-old caretaker was shot and killed Monday evening.
Stewart had taken the victim in some 20 years ago.
"He was an asset to the church, a very good person. Not only that, me and my wife took him off the street and we fed him. We did everything for him," Stewart said.
Earlier Monday, a Manhattan criminal court judge was punched by a stranger on her way to work along Water Street.
"Somebody hit her on the face and the guy was on a bicycle," witness Barat Mukhtiyi said.
Then, hours later, two men were shot while standing outside a day care in the Fordham Heights section of the Bronx.
"Wake up. It's time. Instead of being divided, it's time to work together," Stewart said.
MORE: At Least 11 Shot In Another Wave Of Weekend Overnight Gun Violence, NYPD Says
NYPD data shows shootings are up 87% so far this year compared to this time last year, and up 143% for the month of August.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, a former police officer, believes some current officers are staging a work slowdown. He points to response times increasing by 44% in June and by 14% in July and August.
"The Department of Investigation must look at precinct by precinct to see if job actions are taking place in certain precincts out of frustration," Adams said.
But Mayor Bill de Blasio said the nearly $1 billion in police budget cuts amid the coronavirus pandemic and protests is to blame.
"If there are fewer police officers and less overtime there are going to be challenges," de Blasio said.
Sources told CBS2 the NYPD will authorize a small amount of overtime starting Tuesday and lasting through the end of summer, adding hundreds of officers in precincts that have seen the largest rise in violence.
This also comes as the department unveils new proposed guidelines to standardize punishment for police misconduct, which top brass hopes will build trust with communities.
"New York City police officers and detectives are as dedicated today as they ever have been," NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said.
Shea emphatically denied accusations of a work slowdown.
The DOI said it is reviewing the Adams' request for an investigation into officers' response times.
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