Incident on Franklin

urbanexplorer · March 2011

See Details here:

http://ilovefranklinave.blogspot.com/2011/03/incident-on-franklin-and-looking-out.html

About a week ago, I received the following email from one of our neighbors:
On Saturday February 26th around 5:15 am, I was assaulted at two different locations on Franklin Avenue. My attacker demanded money from me via the ATM at BNI Express laundromat on Franklin and Park, and when the machine didn't work, the initial assault took place. The employees of BNI Express, who were fully aware and watching what was taking place, did nothing to help me even after repeated cries for help. My attacker then demanded money via the ATM at Nam's fruits and vegetables, as it was the only other business open at the time. This time, he took my money, phone and assaulted me again. I again asked for help again at Nam's, but to no avail. My attacker then left the scene and I returned home, after which the police were notified and came to my home to take a report. I decided to write this letter for the benefit of the community, as I am very disturbed at the notion that employees of locally owned businesses that I regularly support did nothing when faced with these circumstances. I no longer feel comfortable supporting BNI Express, or Nam's fruits and vegetables and wanted to make this issue known in the Crow Hill community. Locally owned businesses that we know and support have a responsibility to help someone in distress that is being attacked in their space, at the very least, they should be calling the police. Please be mindful of these issues and if you see someone that looks like they may need help, please help them.

Now, of course, I wasn't there, and the email above does not contain any reporting on ILFA's part, so I won't speculate further on the specifics of this particular incident. That said, the message at the end is worth repeating. Crime is a reality in New York, and in the 77th Precinct (our own), robbery and petit larceny are both on the rise this year. Anonymity is a feature of city living - and a draw for some folks looking to escape the social supervision of the small town - but it comes with a cost, particularly when someone is in trouble. We count on police to do our policing, but the NYPD can't be everywhere at once (and if they were, we'd live in a police state, and that would be troubling, to say the least), so sometimes it falls to citizens to look out for one another and take action to make the world we live in a world we want to live in.

While it's admittedly tricky business in a rapidly-changing neighborhood where we don't know everyone (and where tensions generated by gentrification work against affective ties), looking out for neighbors isn't just a sign of community, it's a route to building community. This doesn't mean calling the police every time someone looks different, or putting oneself in harm's way. Everyone has different levels of comfort with these sorts of things, but eye contact, greetings, and simple questions can go a long way toward both assessing the state of a situation. There aren't any special tricks or magic bullets, and no one should try to break up a situation like this alone, but concerned, alert citizens who don't turn away from bad situations can be as crucial to neighborhood safety as the Skywatch and impact zones. Call it enlightened self-interest - if you look out for someone, it's more likely that there'll be someone looking out for you.

cool the kid · March 2011

Its a tough call for those business owners because if they play vigilante then they become a target

Though a simple call to the cops as the incident occurred would suffice

I am sure they have security cameras too which would help in catching the perp

Shitty situation though

whynot_31 · March 2011

Not many people are out at 5:15 AM on a Saturday.

ridonkulous · March 2011

Although the overall message of this post (watch out for/help your neighbors) is valuable, I have some doubts.

There's a lot of missing info: How did this start? Exactly what kind of assault? Were there injuries? Was there a weapon involved? How did the person get from the laundry to Nam's, by force? How did this resolve: when did the police show up and what's the status of the investigation? Can you post a screen shot from a security camera, or at least a description of the attacker?

Without any of those details, all this does is scare people.

catwalkertexasranger · March 2011

There is some good and bad to this post. First off sorry it happened. Glad you or anybody else is not hurt. Your punk pure obviously knows little about technology. In order to walk from

one location to the other the both of you were recorded by a dozen CCTV with ample lighting. Nam's is a gold mine excellent lighting and a recently updated video recording system. Many small grocers have CCTV not only for robbery and loss prevention but for the looming slip and fall claims by dim wits looking for free cash. The police will surely post a photo or 10 captured from the dozens of camera views that can be provided.

The nouns and verbs used in your plea for help should have included "call 911 now""call the police" and even if not true at the time" he is trying to kill or rape me". Your apology for the over explanation will be easily accepted by the police. Because I go to Nam's, Shore and Pine Tree daily I can assure you they would never deny anybody that said call 911

urbanexplorer · March 2011

Actually Catwalkertexasranger you can't assure, you can only assume. If the employee working the midnight shift didn't want to get involved then they would not call 911 or otherwise. Perhaps the employee recognized the perp and did not want retaliation, perhaps they did not want immigration issues to arise in dealing with the police, perhaps they froze due to fear, none of us can say so let's not blame the victim.

whynot_31 · March 2011

While I'd love for the world to be different, and agree with some of the speculations of Urbanexplorer, I'm not sure its reasonable to expect assistance when you are out at 5:15 AM on Franklin on a Saturday.

I'd expect that to be a bad time and place to be withdrawing money from an ATM.

...Until that changes, I will take proactive steps to reduce the risk of harm to myself. I will use ATMs during the day and in areas not known for crime whenever possible. I think there is little more than this is to be gleaned from this incident.

urbanexplorer · March 2011

I assumed from reading the victim's account that just like at Nam's, the perp. brought the victim to the ATM under duress to withdraw the maximum allowed. This is not the first time I've heard of an assailant who forces a victim to withdraw from an ATM to maximize their gain rather than settling for the money they currently have on them. I've even heard of cases where they do this just before 12am and then again after 12am to withdraw the maximum daily amount twice back to back from the same victim.

I work in the public service sector and often commute home at that time, I think it is reasonable to expect someone to call 911 if I'm in need of it regardless of time of day. Hopefully others will agree.

whynot_31 · March 2011

Yes, crime is common and getting people to go to an ATM maximize their robbery yield is common.

While I wish it was effective, relying on a random person to call 911 in such an instance is a bad plan. As you point out, in many cases it is unlikely they will make that simple call on a victims behalf.

However, even in cases in which they do call 911 on your behalf it rarely helps the victim get out of the situation they are in. The response time of the police is simply too long relative to the amount of time it takes to rob someone.

So, I think it is a good idea to avoid criminals whenever possible.

When you encounter them, if you have no other safe recourse: Give them your money.

Until we live in a society in which there are only sober, non-criminals wandering around us, I think advising people to proactively minimize how much they depend on others and the police is good advice.

...but if someone wants to expect random bystanders to call 911 as they are being mugged, I agree, that's reasonable. I would certainly do it for someone.

I'm glad the victim only lost some cash and their sense of safety. I don't know the details of the situation, but encourage them to think about whether there is anything they could do to minimize their chance of being in the same situation in the future.

Needless to say, being robbed truly sucks. Hopefully their sense of safety remains intact in the majority of life's situations ...anxiety disorders and PTSD really suck.

urbanexplorer · March 2011

Having a pawn shop, methadone clinic, and 24 hour ATM all on the same corner really sucks too.

whynot_31 · March 2011

yup.

...people should make sure to factor all of these things into account. Then, they should add the nearby existence of one of the city's largest men shelters, and a few buildings which have constant drug traffic.

Then, -and perhaps most importantly- they should avoid situations that put them at increased risk.

I couldn't help but slap my head at the bolded part:

Capocci also noted that the 77th Precinct is having a large problem with women's purses and other private property being stolen from public places and cars.
Women shouldn't leave purses on the backs of their chairs in restaurants. The 77th has had cases of people leaving laptops on car dashboards overnight, he said.

"We're getting a lot of grand larcenies, a lot of (car) windows being smashed ... I implore you to take care of your property," he said.

Full article here

http://prospectheights.patch.com/articles/officer-and-victims-near-and-far-honored-at-77th-precinct-community-council-meeting

I'm not one who wants people to live in fear, but I can't help but conclude such actions demonstrate a naivete or ignorance. ....I think of myself as a sympathetic guy, but I don't hesitate to state it is hard for me to have sympathy for someone who leaves a laptop on the dashboard of their car and then returns to their car to find it missing.

When people present themselves or their belongings as easy "marks", it causes criminals to gravitate toward the area and a cycle of crime to begin.

Which, in turn, slows down 911 response time for incidents, which causes the cycle to ---wait for it-- spin faster!

P.S. The pawn shop is actually a jewelry store.

urbanexplorer · March 2011

And the methadone clinic is actually a candy store.

whynot_31 · March 2011

Nah, the methadone clinic is licensed by OASAS ...a candy store would never go through the hassle of getting such a license.

But, if you are looking for unlicensed "candy stores", make sure to read the comments about these places on Sterling:

http://prospectheights.patch.com/articles/man-shot-to-death-on-sterling-place#photo-5256091

The comments remind me of a neighborhood in the midwest I used to live in that had several crack houses, one of them directly across the street from where I lived.

One day, a buyer honked his horn outside of the crack house b/c he wanted delivery.

The dealer stormed out of the house and yelled:

"yo, shut the fuck up with that horn.

You want the whole neighborhood to know what's going on?!

Don't fucking honk, just come inside"

....leading to much laughter among my roommates.

You see, even the dumbest neighbor can figure out what is going on if you tell people "they need to shut the fuck up so people don't figure it out". The comments on the patch article are very similar, and oh-so-precious.

Often, cleaning a neighborhood up is just a matter of outsmarting and avoiding the local, um, "scholars".

As Shakespeare observed: Thou protest too much.

Incident on Franklin

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