NYPD To Increase Patrols In Neighborhoods Plagued By Gun Violence: 'We Are Incredibly Focused'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – The NYPD plans to increase patrols this weekend in parts of the Bronx and Brooklyn to stem the recent surge in gun violence.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said police will work with community organizations, like Cure Violence groups, to tackle the problem together.
"We do not accept an increase in gun violence in New York City," he said at Friday's press briefing.
The NYPD will shift patrol and detective resources to neighborhoods that have been most impacted, reorganize the Community Affairs Bureau and organize gun buy-back events.
They're calling it "Precision Policing."
"You will see increased foot patrols, as well as officers in uniform in marked police cars. We'll also be overlaying that with increased technology – everything from cameras that are mobile to license plate readers," said Commissioner Dermot Shea. "We pioneered precision policing."
WATCH: Mayor, Police Commissioner Discuss Surge In Shootings
The mayor also said the criminal justice system needs to get back up and running.
"The city of New York will do anything and everything to help the Office of Court Administration bring back our court system, but not in just dribs and drabs," he said. "We want the court system back as fully as possible, as quickly as possible so we can address gun violence, so we can make sure there are consequences for anyone who harms another New Yorker."
The commissioner recently slammed the city for practically handcuffing police with reforms, including a bill that outlaws chokeholds, but said Friday he is confident the department can turn the tide.
"What's important for the New York City residents to know is we are incredibly focused on pushing back on the recent violence that we've seen throughout New York City, but very much localized in certain neighborhoods and even certain blocks ... It is not a neighborhood. It is two square blocks in an area," he said. "We have no intention of giving back to gang members any blocks that we have earned with our own sweat and blood over the years."
Shea said since Monday, police have made 13 arrests in recent shootings.
WEB EXTRA: Tracking Shootings In New York City
The added police presence comes as many Black Lives Matter protesters are still calling on slashing police budgets.
On Wednesday, many counter-protested a Unity March across the Brooklyn Bridge, causing violence. Organizers of that march are hoping the new precision policing will help out.
"If the community is smart enough and intelligent enough, when they see police on the corner, they ain't pulling the gun and start shooting ... Good thing about stop-and-frisk was that they left their guns wherever they were. Now that it's over, they're carrying their guns and they're using their guns," said Gerald Seabrooks, with the United Clergy Coalition.
An overwhelming number of residents who spoke to CBS2's John Dias in Bed-Stuy say they're in favor of more police.
"I don't feel like it'll backfire. Black Lives Matter just wants reform and they want people to understand that there is a problem with the system," one woman said.
"We need the community cleaned up. There's a lot of us here that want to do good, see good," another woman said.
Meanwhile, police questioned a person of interest for several hours Thursday in the death of 1-year-old Davell Gardner Jr., sources told CBS2.
Authorities ended up charging 25-year-old Dashawn Austin in another deadly shooting that happened outside a Nostrand Avenue strip club back in March.
Police also arrested three men accused in the murder of Anthony Robinson, who was fatally shot while walking with his 6-year-old daughter last week in the Bronx.
"Handguns, that's our demon. That's the demon, and if we don't focus on those handguns, if we don't stop them from coming into our community, that's the faucet we must turn off," Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams said during a rally Thursday in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
