By Barbara Morris
The promotion had been in the works long before he arrived in Queens Village, and we soon learned how well deserved that promotion is.Shortly after he began his job at the 105th Precinct, he told a small group he had already planned a special initiative that would take place for an entire day, using his own officers and those from elsewhere. The result was impressive indeed: 74 summonses were given for moving violations, 61 summonses for felonies, and 18 for Stop, Question & Frisk.The applause from all present was very representative of an approving, appreciative community.During the questioning from the community, he was asked how his officers would reach out to young people so that they could get to know the police.As regular readers of this column know, the Police Department has many exceptionally good programs that are not only fun, but educational, for young people. The 105th Precinct has Law Explorer Post 2105, which combines law enforcement knowledge with scouting techniques. Some years ago, I as an adult adviser and members of our post went on an overnight camping trip to Fort Totten, we visited the 911 operation, went on a ski trip, made trips to movies and saw many more interesting events.In the summer, there is the Youth Police Academy (similar to the Citizen Police Academy, which adults may attend at night). For older young people who are interested in becoming police officers, the Cadet Program would certainly give them a heads up. There are other programs that go into schools. Anyone interested should certainly inquire further.As a longtime resident of Queens as well as a longtime volunteer with the NYPD, the Department of Parks and Recreation and many local organizations, I must agree with many other voices that say parents can and should go a long way to help their young by setting a good example themselves. Look at the statistics given the night of the January 105th Precinct Community Council meeting. There were 74 summonses for moving violations in just one day's initiative. For shame! Sixty-one felonies! These people are not all from some other planet. They are “us” – and none of us or our young should be guilty of doing all these wrongs.It's still a new year. We can still examine our own behavior and see if it should be moderated at all. Do we respect ourselves enough to be able to respect our neighbors and their property as well as our shared city property? Look on your street and you'll probably see trash – someone finishing a soda, a candy bar, a cigarette, anything – that has just been dropped wherever the person decided to let it fall. Look at the number of illegally posted signs and the graffiti. All these things bring down property values and certainly don't teach youngsters right from wrong.Inspector Piekarski and Community Board 13 Chairman Richard Hellenbrecht have told us we should all be on the lookout for specific places suspected of conducting illegal and/or dangerous activities. We are asked to report as much information as possible about such places to the police as soon as possible. Emergency situations should be reported to 911, of course, but other hot spots should be reported to Community Affairs, Detective Cooper, 718-776-9176, or Officer DiPietre at 718-776-9178.
