NYPD Community Affairs Officer Amber Casaro was telling me, "All precincts are here to help out." She's standing at the corner of E. 2 and Avenue C Thursday around 5:30 p.m., the street where Levi Aron lived. She is one-third of a team of Community Affairs officers from the 61 and 72 precincts who are guarding a rectangle-shaped cordon from 18 Avenue to Avenue C.
It's also where the neighbors meet the press meet the cops. Her job, she says, "is to schmooze; make sure the public feels comfortable." Mid-block going toward Cortelyou are two NYPD Crime Scene Unit trucks—a specialized detail operating from 1 Police Plaza, Manhattan. The 66 precinct Detective Squad is also here scouring the area, a process, she adds, which could take as long as a year.
The neighbors, several patrol cars, assorted freelance cameramen, TV anchor people and trucks from NBC, NY 1, and Channel 12 stand around gawking or waiting. By chance the corner is marked by a fantastical garden, at its center a whitewashed Buddha reading a book.
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