The Neighborhood Coordination Officer program has been around for a little more than a year. The police commissioner calls it the next generation of community policing. Criminal justice reporter Dean Meminger traveled to Upper Manhattan to find out how the program is doing and filed the following report.
In Washington Heights, the Neighborhood Coordination Officers from the 34th precinct say they are constantly meeting residents and business owners.
"There's always a new drug, there's always a hot crime, there's always a club that is having problems, there's always a family that is having a dispute and we are in the front line for that," said NYPD Detective Thomas Troppmann.
Police Commissioner Bill Bratton began the Neighborhood Coordination Officer or NCO program in May 2015, calling it the next generation of community policing. The 33rd and 34th precincts in Upper Manhattan were among the first to launch it. The goal is to work with members of the community in fighting crime and bridge the often-wide divide between cops and communities of color.
"We want to make it work for the future cops who are going to be NCOs. We want to break the ice with the community, make them feel like they have a relationship with the police department," said NYPD Officer Edwin Rodriguez.
And they feel it is working. On a recent walk along, two cops were well recognized on Broadway and 182nd Street. Some considering them the best cops on the beat.
Yvonne Stennett, a community advocate in Upper Manhattan, says she wants the program to work, but has concerns. Some of the initial NCOs already have moved on - a turnover, she says, that makes it hard keeping up with who your neighbor cop is. And, she adds, having just a few neighborhood cops in each precinct is not enough to ease tensions.
"So your NCO officer comes out and greets you or whatever, but the officers who comes behind them, if they are not coming with the same mentality, the same trust factor, the same all of that, you are defeating the purpose already," Stennett said.
The NCOs, though, say they are going to keep pushing.
"Develop a relationship, your kids are growing up now, they are going to be teenagers, they are going to be a part of the society in a in a few years. We want those kids to also have a relationship with the police department and see us as friends," Rodriguez said.