Inside One of Brooklyn's Most Dangerous Neighborhoods
A Community Policing Experiment Gives Residents Control
WEB Brownsville, Brooklyn - In a bold experiment, the police in Brownsville, one of Brooklyn's most dangerous neighborhoods, stepped aside and let residents respond to 911 calls on a two-block stretch of the neighborhood in April. The results were surprising.
According to the New York City Police Department, there were 1,239 total crimes reported in Brownsville in 2021, including 57 shootings and 28 murders. That's a crime rate of 1,006 per 100,000 people, which is more than twice the citywide average.
In response to the high crime rate, the NYPD launched a new initiative called "Operation Impact" in Brownsville in 2022. The initiative increased the number of police officers in the neighborhood and focused on cracking down on gun violence. However, the initiative has been met with mixed reviews from residents.
Some residents say that Operation Impact has made the neighborhood safer, while others say that it has led to increased police harassment. The experiment in April was an attempt to find a new way to police Brownsville that would be both effective and acceptable to the community.