SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

Source: e-MagineArt.com/Flickr

Prescription drug abuse is on the rise, and, for the youth, is often their gateway to harder drugs.

After marijuana, prescription drugs and over the counter medication are the most commonly abused drugs among youth, according the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and approximately one in nine people aged 12 to 25 abused prescription drugs in the past year.

It’s been rearing its ugly head locally, too. Our former head of the 61st Precinct, Georgios Mastrokostas, warned that prescription drug abuse has been on the rise in the area since 2009, and that addiction has not only led to harder drugs, but also has fueled the crime spikes in thefts, burglaries, car break-ins and other property-related crimes. Those claims have already been repeated by his successor, Captain John Chell.

And it’s not just the top brass saying it. When we were on scene at yesterday’s drug bust, one of the under-covers was telling us that most of the suspects they arrest for drugs began their addictions with prescription medications they found in their parents’ medical cabinets.

Don’t give your kids the opportunity to make a bad choice. Get rid of your unused and expired medications, with the help of the NYPD.

The NYPD Community Affairs Bureau has announced that local precincts will be participating this Saturday, September 29, in the 5th Annual National Prescription Pill Take Back Day.

You can drop off unused medication at various locations and 22 police precincts throughout the city, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m..

The 61st Precinct at 2575 Coney Island Avenue is a drop-off site, and other can be found here.

For Sabbath observers, a drug take-back event is scheduled for the 66th Precinct at 5822 16th Avenue today, September 28, 2012, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Thank you to State Senator Marty Golden for tipping us off about the event.

After more than four and a half years serving as head of the 61st Precinct, Deputy Inspector Georgios Mastrokostas said goodbye to the community at last week’s Community Council meeting, and welcomed the new head of the command, Captain John Chell.

Mastrokostas is joining the NYPD’s Organized Crime Control Bureau, charged with the investigation and prevention of organized crime in New York City. The bureau’s work helped bust the massive 36-person auto insurance fraud ring, mostly based in Southern Brooklyn.

“[I have] a lot of great memories, a lot of great support [from those in the community],” Mastrokostas said. “I’m going to miss everybody here, but what makes things easier moving on is knowing that I’m leaving the place in good hands.”

Mastrokostas introduced Chell – pronounced “shell” – during the meeting, who ran through his bona fides: Brooklyn born-and-raised; 18-and-a-half years of service on the police force; worked his way up from beat cop, to detective, to sergeant and lieutenant; worked on both Brooklyn South narcotics and Brooklyn South auto crime – two problems plaguing the 61st Precinct.

Chell praised his predecessor at the meeting, but didn’t fail to note the recent uptick in crime.

“Even though crime is a little up right now, I think part of it, [Mastrokostas is] a victim of his own success. He’s done a great job, and for that I thank him,” Chell said.

To bring crime down, Chell added that he hopes to maintain strong connections with the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office, and place pressure on prosecutors to lock up known repeat offenders for lengthier terms.

“If I can get them put in jail for … three days, three months, three years, 30 years. If I can chip away at this and put each one of these people in jail for a long period of time, we will bring it back down to where it should be,” Chell said. “And that’s where my expertise comes in. I’ve been doing this for years. Lock up the right people, at the right time, and the right place, working with the DA’s office and do the best we can to prosecute them.”

Chell is also emphasizing the role the community can play in crime fighting and improving relations with the precinct. He has been personally visiting civic associations, and during his first week held an off-the-record meet-and-greet with local leaders, activists and media. He spent his several first days calling local elected officials and civic heads to let them know of the change in guard.

“You don’t realize how important the community is until you become captain,” Chell said. “During the time I was in the [60th Precinct], I quickly realized that community is a big part of this. We’re all on the same team here. I like to say it’s a third of crime fighting, and it’s probably more, ’cause we’re all in this together.”

Assembly candidate Russ Gallo points to turf tags allegedly made by Mexican-American gangs (Source: Gallo campaign)

Brighton Beach is seeing a startling rise in Mexican-American gangs, and locals say they’re “recruiting younger children, engaging in violent fights, extorting business owners, selling and buying illegal weapons, and creating small prostitution rings,” according to a recent news report.

Spanish-language newspaper El Diario La Prensa recently covered the rise in gang activity in an article later translated by CUNY Graduate School of Journalism’s Voices of New York project.

According to the report, Mexican-American gangs aren’t new in areas like Brighton Beach and Sunset Park, but activity has picked up and there are hints of a brewing turf war.

Continue Reading »

In the video above, 61st Precinct’s Deputy Inspector Georgios Mastrokostas give his monthly crime report, explaining some of the incidents – and arrests – that continue to fuel the command’s place at the top of the city’s list for increase in major crimes.

Deputy Inspector Georgios Mastrokostas of the 61st Precinct came before Community Board 15 last week to account for the nearly 50 percent jump in major crime in the community.

This year has so far seen a 47.7 uptick in the seven major CompStat crime categories. Leading the way is property crimes, including a 94.1 percent jump in robberies from last year, as well as a 77.5 percent increase in grand larceny, a 28.3 percent increase in burglaries, and a 25 percent increase in grand larceny auto.

Though felonious assaults and murders are down, and rape has only gone from five to six from last year, the Board expressed concern about the increases at its April meeting, and requested Mastrokostas’ presence to explain the rise in crime.

Continue Reading »

Activists blast Community Board member selection process, demand more transparency: The president of a local civic association and another active member of the community slammed the Community Board appointment process for a lack of fairness and transparency at Community Board 15′s final meeting of the season on Tuesday.

Madison-Marine-Homecrest Civic Association President Ed Jaworski led the assault. He insinuated that there is a conflict of interest for members or advisers who also have business connections to buildings-related cases that come before the Board.

Keep reading for more of the activists’ criticism, and other Board matters from Tuesday’s meeting.

COPS!

Eighteen new police officers are roaming the streets of Sheepshead Bay and the 61st Precinct, helping to keep citizens safe and sound from ne’er-do-wells.

At last month’s 61st Precinct Community Council meeting, Deputy Inspector Georgios Mastrokostas announced that reinforcements would soon arrive, and later in the month they did. The new officers hit the streets on Monday, April 16.

These aren’t new recruits, though – they’re veterans of impact zones throughout the city, an officer from the precinct’s Community Affairs Unit told Sheepshead Bites. Many of them were deployed around high-crime areas in Brooklyn South, and at least one comes from the Bronx.

New officers and old officers alike will have their hands full. Crime is up in the area nearly 40 percent overall from last year, according to CompStat statistics. Property crimes appear to be leading the way, with robberies up 63.8 percent, burglaries and grand larceny auto both up 20 percent, and grand larceny up 68.6 percent.

Welcome, officers! We look forward to the improvements you’ll bring to our community.

In the wake of last week’s shooting of four ESU police officers on Nostrand Avenue, local leaders – including elected officials and their representatives – preempted last night’s monthly report from the NYPD 61st Precinct’s Deputy Inspector Georgios Mastrokostas, expressing appreciation for the dangerous work the police do to keep our streets safe.

Among those who expressed their support – and a speedy recovery to the officers – was City Councilman Lew Fidler and representatives from the offices of Councilman Domenic Recchia, Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz, State Senator Marty Golden, Comptroller John Liu, the Gerritsen Beach Property Owners Association, Bay Improvement Group and Madison-Marine-Homecrest Civic Association.

Mastrokostas later took the floor of the 61st Precinct Community Council meeting to review a busy month in the district, which saw not only the shooting of four police officers, but the grisly murder of a man by his roommate, who then chopped up his body and attempted to dissolve it in bleach. There was also a shooting inside an apartment of 2938 Avenue W, in which the culprit is still on the lam.

In other crime, Mastrokostas noted that robberies are up for the last 28-day period, including several purse snatches. There have been eight arrests – and the precinct is up in robbery arrests for the year, up to 44 arrests from 17 last year.

The victim of February’s false arrest, in which an officer allegedly lied saying the man attempted to run him over with his car, confronted Deputy Inspector Georgios Mastrokostas, commander of the 61st Precinct, last week demanding to know if the precinct can be trusted in the future.

John Hockenjos took to the floor of the 61st Precinct Community Council to face the precinct’s commanding officer, expressing shock about the incident and stating that he fears relying on the city police in the future.

The erroneous charges, which were dropped by the district attorney, could have put Hockenjos in prison for seven years. His wife still faces 15 days, and charges against her have not yet been dropped.

“I was facing, if convicted, seven years in prison, losing my livelihood, losing my property, losing everything I had, my finances and my freedom. Two officers planted themselves in my driveway. I could not even move my car,” a visibly distressed Hockenjos told Mastrokostas. “I want to know: is this a culture in the 6-1?”

Hockenjos added that the allegedly false charges weren’t the only thing that went wrong that evening. He said the police officers refused to tell him why he was being arrested until after he was held at the precinct. In previous instances in which they called police regarding their two-year feud with a neighbor over property, they said the officers refused to take a report, including in one case where his wife was assaulted.

The experience has caused him to distrust the local precinct, already dissuading him from calling 911 for vandalism and alleged gang activity on his property.

“I feel unprotected. I’m now afraid to call 911 … I’m afraid for my life,” Hockenjos said. “I can’t protect myself, commander. I can’t do it. All I can do is take pictures.”

On February 5, the 55-year-old East 23rd Street resident was arrested and charged with first and second degree reckless endangerment and reckless driving after police at the scene claimed he attempted to run them over with his car as they stood in his driveway.

The charges were dropped days later after Hockenjos revealed surveillance video suggesting the officer fabricated his report, which stated that Hockenjos drove into his driveway “at a high rate of speed,” which forced Officer Diego Palacios “to jump out of the way to avoid being hit” by the four-door sedan. The video showed Hockenjos slowly pulling into the driveway and stopping several feet before the police officers – who didn’t budge.

Diego Palacios and another officer are currently under investigation by the Internal Affairs Bureau, have been relocated to a different precinct and are no longer on patrol, Sheepshead Bites is told.

Mastrokostas nor Hockenjos declined to discuss specifics of the case. Mastrokostas cannot comment on ongoing investigations, and Hockenjos has been advised by his lawyer to keep mum until the court matters are settled.

Still, Mastrokostas noted that he expects the most of his officers, and that Hockenjos and other members of the community shouldn’t hesitate to report crimes in the area.

“As far as the officers in the 6-1, I expect them to behave with the utmost professional attitude. We’re here to do a job – protect the community that we work in,” Mastrokostas said. “You shouldn’t feel hesitant about calling the police department. If the police respond and you feel they’ve acted inappropriately or did something wrong, I encourage you to call [Civilian Complaint Review Board] or the Internal Affairs Unit. It’s as easy as calling 311.”

61st Precinct Police Officer Andrew Gibbs, Verizon employee Steven Baudille, 61st Precinct Police Officer Melissa Waldon, 61st Precinct Deputy Inspector Georgios Mastrokostas and Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz.. (Source: Cymbrowitz's office)

The following is a press release from the offices of Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz:

Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz lauded the quick-thinking heroism of Verizon employee Steven Baudille, and 61st Precinct Police Officers Andrew Gibbs and Melissa Waldon during a presentation of Assembly citations for the three heroes at his district office.

The 36-year-old Baudille was en route to a job at approximately 11 a.m. when he noticed that smoke was pouring out of a building’s basement on East Eighth Street in the Midwood section. The Staten Island resident flagged down the two cops nearby and, unconcerned for their own personal safety, the three of them broke through the basement’s window frame and Baudille was able to drag the critically injured Offir Shachar, 40, to safety.

“I am pleased to be able to honor the prompt and selfless actions of Verizon employee Steven Baudille, and Police Officers Melissa Waldon and Andrew Gibbs. The noble actions of these three prevented an otherwise potentially tragic outcome, and further reminded us that there truly are heroes among us. It is very important that we take the time to thank these individuals for their bravery, and for helping to ensure that our community is a better and safer place,” said Assemblyman Cymbrowitz.