Local precinct captains give State of Public Safety address at Community Board 2 meeting

October 8, 2014 By Rob Abruzzese Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Captains Fiorillo, Centa and Pagan met with the public during Community Board 2’s most recent meeting and gave a State of Public Safety address in which they discussed what is happening in the greater Downtown Brooklyn area.

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Community Board 2 (CB2) held its monthly general meeting at the Ingersoll Community Center on Myrtle Avenue on Monday night, when captains from local police precincts gave a state of public safety presentation.

Captain Sergio Centa from the 84th Precinct, Captain Peter Fiorillo from the 88th Precinct and Captain Antonio Pagan from Transit District 30 were on hand to give presentations, as was an officer from Police Service Area 3 Housing Bureau.

Centa, who recently took over command at the 84th Precinct, discussed crime in the area. It’s up, but only slightly, as there have been just eight more crimes in the area compared to last year. Recently, though, that trend has reversed, as crime is down nearly 20 percent over a 28-day period compared to the same period a year ago.

One troubled spot that Centa mentioned is Brooklyn Bridge Park, where people are targeting the bags of athletes who make use of the park’s facilities. Centa warned people to make sure their bags are secure while using the park and added that his precinct will continue to monitor the park and deploy officers there as needed.

Fiorillo, also new to his commanding officer post, joined the 88th Precinct as he joined this past March. He pointed out that crime is down slightly in the 88th Precinct, although he admitted that burglaries are up slightly in recent weeks. He said the Precint has deployed a special unit designed to respond to burglaries around the clock, and reminded people that keeping valuables out of their cars and properly locking their doors would cut down on the majority of incidents.

Fiorillo also discussed recent incidents involving teenagers at the Atlantic Mall. He noted that the plan is not to arrest kids over petty offenses, but rather to try to get them to disperse when big groups gather. Fiorillo added that the precinct is contacting schools to try to avoid problems, and noted that he would like to see the schools have staggering dismissal times.

Pagan has served for the past two years as the executive officer at Transit District 30, which located in the Hoyt/Schermerhorn Street Station. He reported that there isn’t a lot of serious crime in the area, but noted that the problems it has dealt with have been consistent — people stealing cell phones.

Pagan urged people to keep their cellphones out of site while using the subway system. He noted that police have been watching intently when schools let out, which paid off last week, when they caught two people stealing phones.

NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer and Councilmember Stephen Levin also spoke at the meeting.

Stringer came with the message that despite the fact that he often agrees with Mayor Bill de Blasio, he serves as a “counterweight” to the mayor. He spoke at length about the city needing to do more to encourage minority and women vendors, as just 3.9 percent of the city’s $17.8 billion procurement budget went to minority or women-owned firms in the 2014 fiscal year. His office has begun giving out letter grades to each city agency, and he said that he graded the city a “D” overall. He did add that his own office needed to do a better job as well; he gave himself a “C”.

Levin came to speak about participatory budgeting, a program that allows residents across the city to have a major say in how to spend $25 million in the budget, and asked CB2 for help in coming up with ideas on how to spend the money. His district has $1 million to spend, and will begin taking ideas this week to determine how to spend the funds. The final voting on how to spend the money will take place in April.