Crown Heights, Brooklyn, NY – In order to reduce assaults on members of the Jewish community in Crown Heights, the police department has deployed some modern technology that was never used before for crime prevention.
One of the new gadgets they are using, is the watch tower, the “sky tower,” as police call it, stands about 25 feet high on the corner of Carroll Street and Troy Avenue. A police officer sits behind tinted windows on a swivel chair inside the compartment, where he can monitor video feed from four cameras. This is the first time the police have used the tower for crime prevention. “It literally gives us the high ground from which to deter crime or to respond to crimes in progress,” the police commissioner, Raymond Kelly, said.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Police have also set up command center vans at two other spots in Crown Heights, due to a group of young men that have assaulted a teenage boy on the night of Yom Kippur, causing him a laceration to his head that required three staples, a broken nose, and cuts and bruises. Police have arrested three of the perps.
Comparing the same period this year with last year, crime is down in every category except grand larcenies. Murders have increased from eight in 2001 to 14 in 2006. But for many community members the attack was indicative of a rise in crimes especially in hate crimes in the 71st precinct. Therefor several hundred members of the community rallied in front of Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters, calling on police to charge the three boys with hate crimes.
A resident of Carroll Street, Yosi Henich, 41, said the tower made people in the neighborhood feel safer. “The last few days have been great,” he said, referring to the tower. “But, it’s just a show. They’re trying to calm us down.”