NYPD expands quality-of-life pilot program citywide to tackle daily nuisances
NEW YORK — The NYPD's stepped-up focus on quality of life infractions is being expanded to all corners of the city, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Mayor Eric Adams announced Monday.
The citywide expansion follows a two-month pilot program in six NYPD precincts that resulted in more than 2,700 parking summonses issued, nearly 3,500 abandoned vehicles removed from the streets and about 200 e-bikes, mopeds and scooters seized because they were either illegal or used to commit crimes.
The officers involved, assigned to Q Teams in the Quality of Life Division created earlier this year, have made a difference, Tisch said, dealing with the 'exact conditions that New Yorkers were calling about daily.'
'Because these teams are positioned where the complaints are, they're getting there faster,' Tisch said at a press conference at the 69th Precinct stationhouse in Canarsie. 'They're cutting response times an average of 16 minutes.'
Adams said the initiative is critical to convincing New Yorkers there is order on the streets.
'We have been successful in bringing down crime,' he said. 'Now we need to match it with people feeling safe.'
Critics have called the initiative a return to zero-tolerance 'broken windows' policing.
But Tisch has repeatedly refuted that assertion, noting Monday that years ago, when serious crime was much more of a problem, such quality of life enforcement was viewed as 'a pretext to prevent more serious crime.'
'In 2025, this is not about preventing something worse,' she said. 'It's about improving daily life.'
The citywide rollout starts in Manhattan on July 14, then moves to the the Bronx on July 21, to Brooklyn a week later and reaches Queens on Aug. 11 and Staten Island on Aug. 18. The Quality of Life divisions will launch in public housing commands Aug. 25.
'The vast majority of New Yorkers haven't been the victim of crime. Most haven't even witnessed one,' Tisch said. 'But what they've lived with is something harder to measure, the gradual breakdown of the things that make a neighborhood feel like home. So this isn't about making arrests, it's about making a difference.'
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