111th Wants Community to Meet with Officers

The 111th precinct will kick off a new initiative this year that will allow the neighborhood's elected officials, civic and community board members, religious leaders, the press and residents to have greater access to the everyday routines of the precinct's officers.

Capt. Ronald Leyson told members of the 111th's community council Tuesday night that the community would have an opportunity to speak with officers during evening roll call. At that time, officers on duty receive their assignments for the night.

"There will be more community involvement," Leyson said. "We want to bring more people in to talk on a one on one basis to the officers. You can tell them what your concerns are. It's a give and take."

The captain has also proposed for the precinct to hold smaller meetings at churches, with civic associations or in community centers around the same time that the community council hosts its monthly meeting. He said this would allow for more people to understand how the precinct operates.

At last night's meeting, Leyson told council members that last week's blizzard did not slow down the precinct's response time and only its civilian staff could not make it to the 111th's headquarters on Northern Boulevard in Bayside.

"As far as manpower, everybody showed up – it took my executive officer five hours to get here," Leyson said. "But there was virtually no crime for two days."

Leyson also said crime has dropped as much as 50 percent in the 111th Precinct during the past decade and there have been no shooting incidents in the precinct in five years.

Crime also fell five percent in Douglaston, Bayside and Little Neck this past year.

But ongoing economic struggles have caused other crimes, such as burglary, to rise slightly within the precinct's confines in 2010.

"We've struggled with burglaries," Leyson said. "We had 10 more than we did in 2009."