Ask the DA: Safe Surrender

March 27, 2012 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

Share this:

By Charles J. Hynes
Brooklyn District Attorney

Next month my office, together with Brooklyn clergy, the New York State Office of Court Administration, The Legal Aid Society and the New York City Police Department will implement Project Safe Surrender, a community program designed to help individuals resolve outstanding summonses and warrants.

While helping Brooklyn residents to address their open warrants and summonses, the program also assists them with reentering society, without low-level crimes holding them back, and by connecting people with vital social services, including housing, employment, job training and education.

The program was first introduced in June of 2009 at Saint Paul’s Baptist Church, and successfully repeated over the last two years at the Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church and the Antioch Baptist Church, as well as at The Mount Sion Baptist Church. The summonses included charges for offenses such as Unlawful Possession of Marijuana, Unlawful Possession of Alcohol under the age of 21, Consumption of Alcohol in Public, Unlawful Possession of Handcuffs, Littering, Spitting, Riding a Bicycle on a Sidewalk, Trespassing, Loitering, Disorderly Conduct, Making Unreasonable Noise, Failure to have a Dog License, Animal Nuisance, Unleashed Dog, Unlawfully in the Park After Closing, and Failure to Comply with Posted Signs in the Park.

The upcoming event will take place on April 6 and April 7 at Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church at 212 Tompkins Ave., from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

There will be a Resource Fair and food available at the site, which is located on the corner of Tompkins and Dekalb avenues. For more information call Pastor Johnny Ray Youngblood at (718) 388-3900, or my office at (718) 250-3888. Also, you can visit www.projectsafesurrender.org for additional information as well.