NYPD To Hold Public Safety Meetings In Neighborhoods Across The City
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — New York City police are holding neighborhood meetings around the city to discuss public safety concerns and possible solutions.
The meetings will be run by officers who work specifically on building community relations. Commissioner James O'Neill is asking New Yorkers to find their local meetings and attend, so the NYPD can better understand problems and concerns.
There will be 166 sessions across the five boroughs.
"These are extremely specific to individual sectors within neighborhoods," O'Neill said. "These are meetings at which residents, workers, and visitors who make up those small areas can meet and bond with specific police officers who are safeguarding their streets every single day."
The department created a website, www.buildtheblock.nyc listing meeting locations and is searchable by address.
Police said the same officers who will attend the meetings will own small areas and patrol the same neighborhoods day after day. The commissioner said the "Building the Block" meetings will be run by the actual officers, not by sergeants, lieutenants, captains, or anyone else in the NYPD command hierarchy.
O'Neill says the aim is to engage in honest conversation about the role of the police on the streets of the city. He wants to continue to build trust with the community.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
