Crazy Activity on Nostrand Ave St Marks Last Night

I dont know what the complaint was at the corner deli on Nostrand & St. marks. But police arrested 1 guy and had him in cuffs, face down on the sidewalk. when I happened on the scene people (some of which sell their wares on the corner) were complaining about the guy getting maced in the face. It was a very tense situation. The 2 cops were facing down a group of guys who were getting more hostile. Of course the real perp got away. The cuffed guy on the ground made things even nicer by screaming, spitting at the cops and lunging. People were stopped on both sides of the avenue. Corner guys were getting more numerous and aggresive and moving closer to the cops and the guy on the ground (who was said to be drunk by other witnesses) The reinforcements came in, 5 or six cops cars. undercover cops and the helicopter. sidewalk perp is still twisting and resisting and the cops grabbed the guy and stuck him in a car and got out of there. A near riot situation.

While the initial incident itself was minor, the fact that the officers were imperiled was a very serious situation.
I dont quite understand what you feel is a mockery in the situation.

I guess you are missing the point.

The helicopters and cars were not there for the guy on the sidewalk.

The helicopters and cars were there to back up the police officers who were very nearly caught up in a potential riot.

2 officers were holding the perp down ( who was resisting arrest), facing off 15 or so angry guys , who kept advancing , and a busy street full of people and it was developing into an ugly situation.

When a police officers life is threatened or in imperiled it is a very serious situation. Hence the 10 cars and 2 helicopters.

you can blame the guys on the corner who feel that a guy on the corner who is resisting arrest and spitting at the officers deserves to be handled with kid gloves and treated with "respect" , to be determined by them, although he certainly isn't giving any himself. Give respect, get respect.

You can blame the guys on the corner who enflamed the entire situation, and put the community at risk with what could have happened

You can blame the jerk in handcuffs who doesnt have the sense to stop being a jerk and give it up.

I blame all those guys for squandering resources, time etc.

But I dont blame the cops for protecting our officers on the street.

SnowboardQueen wrote: Yes, it does seem like a mockery of law enforcement.

Call the police for a crime and two show up and late at that.

But if the officers themselves feel threatened, 2 helicopters and numerous police cars will respond in a nano second.

How many do you think should've shown up? And do you know how long it took for them to get there in either circumstance?

SnowboardQueen wrote: And this group of corner men must not have done anything illegal if just 1 person was whisked away as numerous police cars follow.

Did it occur to you that maybe because it would've further inflamed the crowd, and caused a riot...

SnowboardQueen wrote: And yes, this is the first time I have lived in the "hood" and the way officers respond to civilians calling for assistance in this "hood" is sad, bordering on ludicrous.

Officers come late, if they come at all.

Yikes! How much cause have you had for calling the police since you've been in the nabe? I've been here for going on 4 years, and have only needed them for noise complaints. How quickly they respond depends on how busy the night is, but generally, I don't mind since I realize that in comparison to folks getting shot 5 times in a lovers' quarrel (like happened recently), that's a fairly minor issue for them to deal with.

I'm sure I'm not alone in saying how truly sorry I am that you've had so much need for police attention in the short time you've lived here. So, are you saying you would like more police? If so, you might have a point there. According to "King without a crown" (a poster on this site who's a police), there are 5000 fewer police today than 10 years ago.

Honey..... Child.....mmm...mm... mmmmq
What kind of fantasyland do you live in?

police should show up at the scene of the crime instantly and get their man

everybody doing wrong should be arrested immediately .

If they werent arrested then they must be innocent and not doing any thing wrong

I feel that your logic is a little "sad,bordering on ludicrous"

I think I'll have to vote with how the police handled the situation- especially since their lives are on the line.

The police decision to grab the guy, get out of there and let the situation dissipate seems ever so more intelligent then doing a full scale show of power by busting the corner guys too and starting a full scale riot.

you dont seem too concerned that their lives were threatened only that 2 helicopters and 10 cars were deployed, and gosh darn it, they didnt answer your complaint right away.

Girlfriend, along with that handy tip to inform the police that an officer is down to get some quickie fast service next time you need an officer, you might like this tip too - Next time you're at the airport and all those pesky people are in front of you in line - just mention that bomb in your carry on - that'll get you to the front of the line mad quick!
(Oh Yeah- babe- try to find the mockery in that last paragraph - its there)

SnowboardQueen. You are not going to find a sympathetic audience here to your questions. Your statements and timelines have not been substantiated by any sort of facts, other than your statements. The fact is, we who live here want the police to do exactly what they did. It's time to kick some ass first and ask questions later. These cops felt they were in danger. They are outnumbered in this neighborhood. There are too many guns and assholes who have them. As long as this macho "gansgta" culture with its don't snitch attitude continues, nothing will be solved. What you are seeing is the beginnings of the taming of the wild west culture of this area. I'm happy to see cops and choppers and faces on the sidewalk. I'll even pay more taxes to have more of this.

It seems obvious and elementary, but the police respond to "officer in trouble" with such urgency because officers put their life on the line, each and every day. They have to deal with the stupid and ignorant, violent and unreasonable, chemically altered and insane and everything else that comes up.

How ofter does a civilian get into a perilous situation? not often.
police officers can get into a bad situation every minute of their working day, every day and even after hours they dont get to hang up the gun.

All that insanity and a meager starting salary.
And that is why their lives are far more valuable to society and the community then some domestically violent couples argument, or some stupid drug kid shooting it out on the street with his homies, etc.

Its not like police officers are an expendable commodity. When you hire and train somebody to deal with all the stupidity and crime then you have an obligation to protect them and back them up.

SnowboardQueen wrote: And that is my point, I would love the police to do "exactly what they did" also WHEN CIVILIANS call to report crimes in progress on or against other civilians.

What does a civilian have to do to have the police respond in a timely manner when a crime is being committed against a civilian in Crown Heights?

The police determine how to respond to every situation because only they have the knowledge of available manpower, assessing the importance of all the calls for help, and the experience to determine what the priorities are.

Your experiences do not represent the reality of the situation. 3 bad experiences with response times is just your bad luck.

I've had experiences with the police over the past five years in matters both important and not so important, and response time varies for all the above stated reasons. Generally response times are good.

you have to be realistic.

SnowboardQueen wrote: [quote=tsarina]
How ofter does a civilian get into a perilous situation? not often.
police officers can get into a bad situation every minute of their working day, every day and even after hours they dont get to hang up the gun.
.[/b]

Unfortunately, in this neighborhood more times than seem to be needed and those are the times I have called for help to very sad, sad results.

After initially being critical of SnowboardQueen, I do think we should acknowledge that she pointed out 3 instances where the police response was slower than the one she had in Park Slope.

SnowboardQueen, what day of the week was it that you called in the noise complaint? I've had mixed results when I've called in this neighborhood, which I can only attribute to the day of the week I called, i.e. I once called on a Saturday and no one ever showed up, but called again on a Tuesday and they were there in about 15-20 minutes.

I do agree that 25 minutes to get an ambulance is pretty lousy, but it also might be a factor of what else was going on at the time, and, again, the day of the week, i.e. I live near the Prospect Heights High School building and mid-week, regularly see ambulances just chilling out, waiting for a call.

As for the other 2 instances, it's possible that the 40 minute response to the gunshots is the result of what Whatchuwant was talking about: you were calling after the fact, and the perp was probably gone shortly thereafter, so unless the police were in the immediate neighborhood, there's little chance they'd catch him or her. At best, they can show up, investigate, and collect whatever information they can. And with the no-snitching rule in effect, unless someone was injured and required an ambulance, there's little chance they'd get much witness (or neighbor) cooperation. The non-cooperations is what worries me the most since in the 2 years I lived in the nabe before Wall Street blew a $2-3 trillion hole in the economy I'd never heard any gunshots, but have heard them 4x since.

As for the domestic dispute? Did you report any physical violence? If not, they may have just assumed it was a lovers' quarrel and left it at that. As I mentioned before, according to several of the posters on this site, there are 5K fewer police on the force than there were 10-15 years ago, and this neighborhood has a lot more going on in it than Park Slope, so they just may not have the staffing to deal with intervene in a non-violent argument.

"I highly doubt it's just a matter of bad luck for police response times to crimes in progress in Crown Heights. If that were the case I highly doubt Crown Heights would have the unfortunate reputation it does. "

what does this mean? are you saying that the police are somehow responsible for crown heights' reputation as a neighborhood with crime? or are you talking about the police's reputation?