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By Julianne Cuba
Brooklyn Daily
It’s a street divider.
A Marine Park street that sits at the border of two police precincts is an enforcement dead zone, say residents who claim police ignore their pleas to make sure there are boots on the ground.
Residents of Stuart Street living across the road from Marine Park say cops from the 63rd Precinct are routinely seen on patrol inside the park’s borders, but won’t help with problems on their side of the street — because houses there are in the 61st Precinct. And, they claim, police from the 61st rarely answer their calls to talk about crime during monthly Marine Park Civic Association meetings.
“Stuart Street is never considered a concern,” said Stuart Street resident Louis Geritano.
Residents complained that the biggest problem they have are with drivers speeding down the block and blowing through the stop sign when coming to or leaving the park, and wannabe park-goers dangerously backing down the street when looking for a place to leave their car instead of driving around the block.
But police from the 61st Precinct said residents are welcome to bring up their concerns at that precinct’s monthly Community Council meetings, where they usually get a chance to speak directly with the captain and hear what else is going on.
“We want them to come to the council meetings, we want them to come to hear everything that’s going on in the precinct,” said Officer Sammy Shaya, who helps out with community relations.
But Geritano said he believes it’s the precinct’s responsibility to make more of an effort to make residents feel more comfortable, he said.
“How many nights a week am I going to go to meetings?” he said. “I don’t think I should be running out when the problem is in my neighborhood. They should be coming to us.”
To that, Shaya said it’s easy to get in touch with the precinct to register complaints — by calling.
“It’s not fair for a resident to have to wait a month to have a problem addressed,” he said, “They have my number, they can call me at any time.”
The community affairs team at the precinct can be reached at (718) 627–6847.