NYPD Agrees To Two-Block 'Police-Free Zone' In High-Crime Neighborhood

""They're not gone, but they give us our room to control the block," said Dushoun Almond, program director of Brownsville in Violence Out."

""It has the potential to go sideways quickly," a police source told the NY Post. "It's insane.""

""a reckless experiment that invites chaos and puts residents and businesses at risk.""

The NYPD agreed to keep uniformed officers outside a two-block stretch of Brownsville on Mother Gaston Boulevard between Sutter and Pitkin avenues as part of a city-funded program that uses community members to handle low-level incidents. The Brownsville Safety Alliance operates four times annually from noon to 6 p.m., with about 20 members of Brownsville in Violence Out answering 911 calls for minor incidents while a plainclothes NYPD sergeant shadows the group and uniformed officers remain at the block edges to respond to serious crimes. The program began in 2020 under Mayor Bill de Blasio, has supporters and critics, and coincides with reported crime increases in the 73rd Precinct.

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