Forest Hills residents looking to help police fight crime in their neighborhood will now get the chance, thanks to a revived program at the 112th Precinct.
Residents at the 112th Precinct Community Council meeting got a look at the Blockwatcher Program, which aims to give people who have been trained a chance to call in crimes or complaints to police. The program’s intent is to get information about what’s going on to cops faster than it might have in the past.
Blockwatcher participants receive training in how to specifically describe what they see when calling in a crime or complaint.
For example, at the meeting, residents were shown a PowerPoint presentation on what to tell the operator when they call either 911 or 311. This included how to describe a person or vehicle that they see.
They were given a few different scenarios on video as part of the presentation. When the video finished, the trainees had to identify what happened, the description of the person and what number they would call to give the information of what he or she had seen. One of the scenarios that they watched was a robbery.
So why is this program in the 112th Precinct? Precinct Council President Heidi Chain said because she asked for it.
Chain said that, after hearing about the program starting up at the 100th Precinct in the Rockaways earlier this year, she believed that it would be a good thing to bring it to the Forest Hills/Rego Park neighborhoods, which are the neighborhoods that the 112th Precinct patrols.
She said she hopes the program will encourage people to call 911 or 311 immediately when they see something.
“We have lots of people who see things and aren’t calling in,” Chain said.
She also said that many people wait too long to bring up an incident that happened, often waiting until a public meeting to bring it to the police’s attention.
Another appeal, Chain said, is that the program allows people to report a crime or incident anonymously.
After giving details of the crime, the person calling in the crime only have to give their identification number on the Blockwatcher card they have when they join the program. When reporting a crime to 911, people usually have to give their full name so the police can follow up with them for more details about what he or she reported.
Chain said this allows people who mightbe worried about giving out their name to report a crime without doing so.
Sgt Adeel Rana, a community affairs officer who gave the presentation at the precinct council meeting, said that while they encourage people, whether or not they are in the program, to call 911 or 311 when they see something. He reminded watchers not to follow people if there is a crime in progress. He advised them to let the police handle the situation after they call it in.
Deputy Inspector Christopher Tamola, the commanding officer of the 112th Precinct, supports having the program in his precinct.
“I’ve always said that the best crime fighters I have are the residents of the 112,” Tamola said.
According to Chain, about 50 people are officially in the program after receiving the training.
If you are interested in joining the Blockwatcher program or finding out more information about it, please call the community affairs office at the 112 Precinct at 718-520-9321.
By Luis Gronda
