Brooklyn tackled the pandemic’s surge in gun violence with a strategy that would once have been a nonstarter: using police and incarceration as a last resort. But will that clash with Eric Adams, the ‘tough on crime’ mayor?
- Part 1: The bad old days: how policing in New York City turned back the clock
- Part 2: The clearances paradox: could fewer arrests actually reduce crime in NYC?
The street outside the Brownsville Community Justice Center used to be a hub for drug use and violence. A dead-end road, it lacked good lighting, overlooking windows and car traffic – a combination that made it unsafe to walk down. The surrounding neighborhood in east Brooklyn has historically suffered from some of the highest rates of gun violence and other violent crime in the city.
Now, the street is a public plaza: tables and chairs, lush plants and trees, and a colorful mural reading “Brownsville Stronger Together”. It’s a well-lit, largely safe passageway between the Langston Hughes public housing towers and the bustling storefronts along Belmont Avenue. The broader 73rd precinct, which includes Brownsville, has seen murders and shootings fall significantly since last year.
