Latest news with #QualityofLifeDivision
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
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.'
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
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.'
CBS News
14-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
NYPD rolling out new Quality of Life teams. Here's where they will start.
The NYPD is rolling out a new Quality of Life Division across five precincts and several housing developments Monday. Officials say complaints about noise, drug use, panhandling and illegal parking have risen over the last six years. Critics, however, worry the crackdown may disproportionately target low-income residents. New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch say the pilot program is about making sure every New Yorker feels seen, heard and safe by responding to non-emergency 311 concerns. Officials say complaints about these low-level offenses have doubled in the last six years, with panhandling seeing a 200% increase. But the New York Civil Liberties Union warns that the new enforcement is a return to the so-called "broken windows" police strategy employed by former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and fears it will lead to police harassment and profiling of people of color. The NYPD commissioner has insisted that is not the case and the new unit is not a return to zero tolerance policing. The pilot program launches Monday in the following locations: The program will be evaluated over the course of the next two months before expanding.
CBS News
10-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
NYC Mayor Adams announces new NYPD Quality of Life Division
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced Thursday the creation of a new NYPD Quality of Life Division. "We will not tolerate an atmosphere of anything and everything goes," Adams said. "We are going to have a city that's clean and safe. The Quality of Life Division will begin operation next Monday with a pilot program in five precincts and one housing PSA area." The new division will combine existing NYPD community roles like neighborhood coordination officers, youth coordination officers, and traffic safety officers into specialized "Q-Teams" to address quality of life problems in those communities like noise violations, abandoned vehicles, homeless encampments and outdoor drug use. "Issues like illegal vending, substance use, abandoned vehicles, illegal mopeds and reckless driving and more have persisted for far too long, and we want to ensure that we continue to move our city in the right direction," Adams said. Some critics worry it's reminiscent of the "broken windows" policing strategy under former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and have concerns it will unfairly target marginalized communities. "When you're rolling out new programs, you know, there's a lot of concerns. So what we have to do is watch, wait and see, because it all changes when the rubber meets the road," one person said. "Some have criticized this as a return to zero tolerance policing, which is a complete mischaracterization of what we're doing here. We are addressing quality of life issues, yes, but this is different policy for a different purpose. In 2025, quality of-life enforcement is not about preventing more serious crimes. It is about improving quality of life. It's about being responsive to actual community complaints and fixing the very real issues people are dealing with every day. That is why we're are doing this," NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. "The vast majority of New Yorkers have never been the victim of a crime. In fact, most of them have never even witnessed a crime, but many of them have struggled to find parking because abandoned vehicles are taking up spots in the neighborhood, or had to jump out of the way for an e-bike on the sidewalk, or avoided walking through a park with their kids because people were there openly using drugs. These encounters make people feel less safe." Adams said that, along with the new division, the NYPD is also launching Q-Stat, a program modeled after CompStat, which tracks crimes and uses the data to adjust police deployment. It will track 311 complaints the way CompStat tracks major crimes. "We are going to use the same recipe for success this time to address quality of life issues. Q-Stat will help us track and tackle quality of life issues using real-time data and deployment," Adams said. The pilot programs will take place in the 13th, 40th, 60th 75th and 101st precincts along with Public Service Area 1. The city says there's no extra cost. The division is being built through internal restructuring. If the pilot program will roll out citywide if the pilot proves effective. During his announcement, Adams touted five straight quarters of decreasing crime since Jan. 1, 2024. "We are shattering crime records. The first three months of this year so the lowest number of shootings in recorded history," Adams said. "Since the start of modern crime tracking there has never been this few number of shootings in any quarter in any year." "Every New Yorker deserves to feel safe, and the Quality of Life Division will take a direct approach to address these issues impacting our streets and public housing developments," Tisch said.
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Yahoo
NYPD launches new Quality of Life Division to crack down on 311 complaints
The NYPD will tackle illegal vending, outdoor drug use, homelessness issues, noise, and double parking complaints — issues that touch every New Yorker — with a new Quality of Life Division, Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Mayor Adams announced Thursday. Teams of cops designed to respond to these everyday annoyances will be hitting the streets in precincts enrolled in the new pilot program, said Tisch, who added that non-emergency 311 complaints about double parking, homelessness, noise and aggressive panhandling, have steadily risen over the last six years. 'We're turning our attention toward the issues that New Yorkers see and feel every day — the things that don't always make headlines but deeply impact how people live,' Tisch said at a press conference with Adams at the 13th Precinct stationhouse in Gramercy Park. 'Every New Yorker deserves to feel safe, and the Quality of Life Division will take a direct approach to address these minor issues impacting our streets and public housing developments.' Officers from the 13th Precinct are among those taking part in the new program. The other precincts taking part are Brooklyn's 60th Precinct in Coney Island and 75th Precinct in East New York, the 101st Precinct in Far Rockaway, Queens, the 40th Precinct in Mott Haven, Bronx, and Police Service Area 1, which covers city housing projects in southern Brooklyn. The only borough so far not involved in the program is Staten Island. Cops from each command will be assigned to 'Q teams' which will respond to 311 calls and monitor trends. Supervisors from the teams will be called to regular Q Stat meetings modeled after CompStat, the department's method of tracking crimes in real time, allocating resources to prevent more crime and holding commanders accountable for their strategies. Over the next two months, the initiative will be evaluated and refined before expanding to other commands. Tisch first announced the Q teams in January at the state of the NYPD breakfast at Cipriani's. A quality of life crackdown on the subways, which focused on homeless issues and minor infractions such as sleeping across seats, led to the arrest of many offenders wanted for other crimes, officials said. Civil liberties advocates, which include Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark, have pushed back on the ongoing subway crackdown as well as the creation of Q teams, saying the new efforts are another form of 'broken windows' policing — enforcing violations and minor misdemeanors with the belief that not doing so prevents a sense of disorder that can lead to more serious crimes. The Adams administration and Tisch have been proponents of the broken windows policing approach to and have criticized court and bail reforms that have allowed low level criminals to skirt jail time. 'Now is not the time to retreat to broken windows policing,' Clark said last month at a City Council budget hearing. 'Now is the time to look ahead to 21st century solutions aimed at keeping the Bronx safe. We start by identifying the root causes of crime and addressing the underlying conditions that lead to a cycle of violence and recidivism.' The Quality of Life Division will be led by Deputy Chief William Glynn. The 21-year NYPD veteran recently led the department's crackdown on prostitution and illegal vending on Roosevelt Ave. in Queens. Glynn has also served as the commanding officer of the 81st Precinct in Bedford-Stuyvesant and the 94th Precinct in Greenpoint. He oversaw the creation of Community Link, a multi-agency effort to respond to quality of life issues throughout the city. 'We will not tolerate an atmosphere where anything goes and today we are taking public safety to the next level,' Adams said. 'Issues like illegal vending, substance use, abandoned vehicles, illegal mopeds, reckless driving, and more have persisted for far too long.'
