By COLlive reporter
Representatives of Mayor Bill De Blasio’s office and the NYPD met with Crown Heights community leaders Tuesday to discuss recent violent incidents in the neighborhood.
In attendance were community representatives Eli Cohen and Chanina Sperlin of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, community activist Devorah Halberstam, Eli Slavin, community liaison for Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, Rabbi Shea Hecht of NCFJE and activists Yaakov Behrman and Avi Lesches.
The meeting, held at the Jewish Children’s Museum, was led by Mr. Marco A. Carrion, Mayor De Blasio’s Commissioner of Community Affairs, joined by Senior Community Liaison, Mr. Pinny Ringel.
The discussion centered around the city’s response to the spike in violence, most notably the most recent incident, the torching of a bus near Bais Rivkah school by a group of youths.
The details of the Police investigation were presented by Deputy Inspector Mark Magrone, commanding officer of the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force.
He went through the details of the investigations of the various incidents, and the arrests made last week of the 5 youths accused of the burning of the bus.
Because of the young age of the perpetrators, the case will not be prosecuted by the DA but rather will be handled by the NYC Corporation Counsel in Family Court, Magrone explained.
A representative of the City’s Corporation Counsel explained the system for dealing with young offenders and the levels of disposition that can be taken if a finding is made that their actions would have been a crime if committed by an adult.
Community representatives related their concerns about what they see as a spike in anti-Semitic incidents in the neighborhood, some of whom remarked they had witnessed anti-Semitic incidents at local Community Board meetings as well.
Following the official presentation, a number of the community representatives spoke about the need to do more to educate young people about how to live with their neighbors.
The NYPD officials in attendance committed to visiting local public schools for that purpose, as well as to work to make sure the streets are safe.
How did the people named in the article and seen in the photos become our representatives? Was there an election that I missed?
besides the need to teach the the laws of noach, truthfully , our boys would do a great job of teaching these as the teachers just cannot put any strength into it, quote from a public school teacher in flatbush, yes l had a lot of success giving them out, many kids took them and one teacher took a huge amount, she was thrilled,
as the rebbe says this world is not a jungle
serel maness
In my humble opinion, these kids were bored, not too smart, unsupervised and made a huge mistake setting the bus on fire. From the video they appear caught up in the excitement of the blaze before realizing what a dangerous thing they did and then ran off not knowing what to do to or how to put it out. A swift and meaningful punishment/consequence beyond their arrest and Court appearance (at the totally dysfunctional Bklyn Family Court) should include making immediate financial restitution and apologies. Depending on whether or not they have a history of engaging in dangerous/criminal activity, a… Read more »
no need for meetings dont make this in to a federal case , theyre kids did wrong caused damage no need to roast anybody
Now that I see this meeting taking place I can rest assured things will change. It’s these bagel chugging sessions that bring immediate change to our community.
These little thugs need to be tried in regular court. If not it gives these kids the pass to commit heinous crimes.
Otherwise the meeting was a big waste of time
Let the parents pay for the damages their children caused. They brought them into this world, and if they haven’t taught them properly, and their kids could do these atrocities at such a young age, then let the parents come up to plate and pay! Best tool they can teach their children . Perhaps they’ll actually become responsible after seeing this!
BH in a similar case in our community some years ago, where kids acted inappropriately at a jewish community center the judge handed them a verdict to do a certain number of hours of community service and made them meet with a holocaust survivor. These kids have too much free time on their hands and should be ‘punished’ with hours of community service.
there is only one thing I could say is we want moshiach now