Officer Shum: Into Kensington's Beat

One of three beat cops in the 66th Precinct, 29-year-old Police Officer Dave Shum often takes Kensington's pulse, his beat, from the window of his scooter, though he also likes to get out and walk around it. In police speak, he “has a detail”: “that’s the location where you work, walk, and know people,” Officer Shum said.

His centers on McDonald and Church avenues, but jobs that come over his cell can take him from Caton to Ditmas Avenue, from 39th Street to Ocean Parkway. Or a series of incidents near Ditmas, for example, could have him patrolling there.

The Kensington Beat
“People know me and like me. The kids like me," he said, hitting the high notes of his 1½ yrs in Kensington. He breaks up his day by talking with business owners, “most of who know me by name or face or [from] walking around.” He likes that. “They’re sort of my friends now,” he said referring to the storeowners, who call him Dave.

People flag him down with hypothetical questions, he said, although until now not too many of the residents know him. And he finds the Bangladeshi more reticent than others in approaching him for advice. “They seem to keep more to themselves,” he said.

He prefers the time he’s spent in Kensington to the 3 years he spent “on patrol” working all over the 66th. “No one knows you” on patrol, P.O. Shum explained. “You’re picking up jobs right and left, McDonald, Ocean Parkway, but you don’t get to talk to people. You’re busier, but you don’t get to know them.” On the other hand, as a beat cop, he said, he gets “to slow down and meet people.”



Keeping Kensington Calm
To deter crime, Officer Shum said he makes his presence known to the community, be they perps or people on the street. “Not too many crimes happen when I’m around,” he claimed. “I go up and down all the side streets.” His main concern is “to avoid crime activities in the area, like burglaries and robberies.” Compared to the time he spent as a rookie in Flatbush (the 70th), or on patrol, Kensington “is easy.” It doesn’t have “too much crime. Most of the time it’s quiet.“

Only once has there been a robbery while he’s been on duty: at Albemarle and McDonald. (P.O. Shum works an 8:35 hr/day shift, five days a week.) That occurred the third week of March, just before his vacation. Shum was there in a minute, but the guy got away, most likely “running into the subway station and vanishing by train.” Just as Shum made it to the platform, one left in each direction. He said the recent felony assault at Church and Dahill the week of April 4–10 occurred while he was away.

Budget cuts and staff shortages can take P.O. Shum away from his beat. On a good day, it’s only for 2 hours to supervise school dismissals on 8th Avenue, where P.O. Shum watches for kids who don’t belong there, stops fights, and then returns to Kensington. “I don’t mind helping out but it is time away….Sometimes it’s for the whole day,” he said.

How to Avoid Rip-Offs
First and foremost, he said, "Pay attention to your surroundings," pointing out a woman walking by, talking on her cell phone, and another with headphones on, her bag slung on her shoulder.

“Everyone’s walking with a cell. It’s easy to bump them down and take it,” he said about the first woman. And the second is distracted. Again, “easy to take it,” he said, referring to the bag on her shoulder. As D.I. Sprague has often warned, people are paying far more attention to their gadgets than their surroundings. That makes them an easy mark.

Eating in the Nabe
Soho Café on Church, Shum said, is one of his favorites for lunch. “I’m not picky,” he added. “I’ll eat anything, and I like to change it up just to try it out. Thai, Chinese, Tex-Mex, bagels, gyro. I eat hallal, tried Bengali. I can’t have the same food every day. I used to like sweets, but since I’m on a diet I’m cutting down.” Still, for all his interest in food, he does not cook. The chef in his family is his dad.

Tour Highlights
It turns out Officer Shum speaks fluent Cantonese. That was the reason he was called in to investigate an incident among Asians on 8th Avenue several years ago: A store owner chased and then hit a customer for harassing and touching a store employee, the owner’s daughter. The next day the father turned himself into the precinct. A photo of Officer Shum, the event’s hero, ran in the Chinese press, thereby ending any chance of doing undercover work, something he’d often considered.

In another incident, at the T- Mobile store on Church Avenue, he chased down two perps for two blocks who’d tried to steal a cell phone. He caught them, but then handed the credit for the arrest to someone else.

Raised in Bensonhurst back when it was an Italian neighborhood, he, his wife (a  music producer), and 9-month old daughter make regular visits from Bay Ridge, where they live, to see his parents who still live in Bensonhurst, which now has a rapidly growing Chinese population.

Before he was invited to attend the Police Academy, in July 2006, he planned to return to school for a degree in business administration and hotel management, planning to work cruise ships. Still enthralled with the sea and beach, he spent his 29th birthday on vacation in the Bahamas.