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The first wave of the NYPD’s new anti-gun units is set to hit the streets early next week, the city’s top cop said Friday.
Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said during a press conference at One Police Plaza the Neighborhood Safety Teams — a key pillar of Mayor Eric Adams’ crime-fighting plan — will start patrolling Monday in 28 areas where shootings have increased during the pandemic.
A total of about 168 officers will be part of the first wave of units, with the remaining roughly 300 hundred to be added on a rolling basis as they complete their seven-day training, police officials said.
“They’re intensively trained in minimal force techniques, advanced tactics, car stops. De-escalation is essential to all of it, communication skills is a big part of it, courtroom training and as the police commissioner indicated, constitutional policing,” Chief of Department Ken Corey said of the training.
According to police sources, phase one, which was delayed a few weeks from the previous start date, will see teams deployed in the following areas:
- Manhattan’s 23, 25, 32 and 34 precincts
- Bronx’s 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 47, 48 and 52 precincts
- Brooklyn 67, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, and 83 precincts
- Queens’ 103, 105 and 113 precincts
- Housing’s PSA 2, 3, 5, and 7
Each unit will have one sergeant for every five officers, the sources said. If more than one unit is assigned to a precinct a lieutenant will oversee them.
The commanding officers were ordered last week to compile a list of community members and schedule a meeting where precinct leaders can establish localized strategies to address the community needs, sources said.
Those meetings were finalized earlier this week, the sources added.
Sewell said at her first press conference Friday that the units will communicate with the community to find out what issues they’ve had with police.
The new teams will be tasked with taking guns off the streets — a similar mission to its predecessor, the anti-crime unit, which was disbanded under the last administration.
In contrast to plainclothes anti-crime officers, the cops in the new units will be clearly marked as NYPD officers.
The units will be assigned undercover cars, which will ultimately all be equipped with dashboard cameras.
As of now, only about half a dozen of the cars have the tech installed.
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