NYPD Sends Summertime Cops To High-Crime Neighborhoods

NEW YORK, NY — The NYPD is working to make sure criminals don't have any summer fun. Nearly 300 extra cops will bolster the force in nine high-crime command areas for the summer months, officials announced Thursday.

The fourth annual "Summer All-Out" initiative will reassign 293 cops from administrative posts to help local commanders tackle trouble spots until just after Labor Day, police officials said.

"Beyond any crime statistic showing the city is safe and getting safer, it’s more important to ensure every single New Yorker actually feels they are safe," Chief of Department Terence Monahan said.

The officers were deployed Thursday to the 32nd Precinct in Manhattan; the 67th, 73rd and 75th Precincts in Brooklyn; the 103rd Precinct in Queens; the 120th Precinct in Staten Island; and the 40th Precinct, 43rd Precinct and Police Service Area 7 in the Bronx.

Each precinct commander decides how exactly to put the cops to work, but they'll generally be posted at places and times with a "history of violence," Monahan said.

The program helped reduce crime last summer, resulting in 44 fewer shootings and eight fewer murders in affected commands than in the same period in 2016, officials said.

"The professional presence of these officers is a deterrent to crime," Monahan said. "Seeing an officer on post in an area that has experienced violence also provides a measure of comfort to residents of that neighborhood."

Though the cops aren't usually assigned to the streets, they got a one-day refresher course on neighborhood policing and de-escalation techniques before hitting their temporary posts, the NYPD said.

The effort follows a slight spike in major crimes last month compared to May 2017, including a nearly 50 percent increase in the number of rapes. Crime is down overall so far this year compared to last year, officials say.

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