Release: Statement by State Senator Joseph P. Addabbo Jr. on Implementation of Community Policing Strategy

Howard Beach, NY (June 29, 2015) “Returning to community policing is the first step toward improving community safety and repairing the relationship between civilians and the police who bravely risk their lives to protect them. By placing the same patrol officers in the same neighborhoods every day, police and citizens will have the opportunity to build a mutual trust and work together to prevent crime and keep our city safe. As these officers become more familiar with the ins and outs of a particular neighborhood, it allows them to better serve the residents by knowing each community’s specific strengths and weaknesses.

When I was a local civic president, I remember the previous community policing and beat cops. When we see the same faces in uniform each and every day, we can begin to accept them as a normality that puts us at ease, rather than see them as an intrusion. I am confident that this strategy will ultimately help New Yorkers see that police officers should not be feared, but should instead be welcomed as members of our community whose main goal is to protect us. Our police force can only be as effective as we allow them to be. For that reason, it is vital that we provide them with the resources to succeed, and the community policing strategy is a common-sense way to do that.”