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By Will Bredderman
Brooklyn Daily
They’re mad as hell and they’re not going to take it anymore!
Ridgites say they’re fed up with drug dealers congregating on the blocks off Fifth Avenue — and they’re working to form a neighborhood watch to help the police crack down on the illicit activity.
Neighbors claim that young thugs using and selling pills, coke, and weed gather on the stoops and in the hallways of buildings near the thoroughfare from Bay Ridge Avenue to Bay Ridge Parkway, and at the corners of 72nd and 73rd streets in particular. Local residents and business owners want act now to combat the problem before the drug market heats up in the summer.
“It’s out of control,” said Maureen Gormley, one of the residents who came out for a meeting last week with the 68th Precinct to discuss the community patrol. “Something needs to be done about it.”
A police source said the program’s official name is Civilian Observation Patrol, and that it deputizes residents to watch out for criminal behavior and report it to the police. The precinct is urging residents to sign up.
“They become the eyes and ears of the police, and report on suspicious criminal activity,” the officer said. “Right now we’re just looking for volunteers.”
Those who attended the meeting said they were told each afflicted block would have two civilian “captains” with the phone number for a special hotline at the stationhouse, which they would use to report drug sightings and cases of trespassing. Police would then immediately deploy officers to the scene.
Residents said such a program is long past due.
“We’re sick of this stuff,” said Mupark Algehmi. “I’m going to move if it doesn’t change.”
Algehmi said he has repeatedly reported the dealers who gather in his stairwell to police without results, and fears that the crooks could become a negative influence on his 12-year-old son.
“I’d do anything to keep my kids safe,” said Algehmi.
Neighbor Joe Porci also said he wanted to get involved.
“The selling in this neighborhood has to stop,” Porci said. “This was always a great place. We’ve got to clean it up.”
Reach reporter Will Bredderman at wbredderman@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-4507. Follow him at twitter.com/WillBredderman.