Police Aggression in My Community

In the last few weeks in my neighborhood in Brooklyn some strange stuff has been going on in terms of the police and criminal activity. Since it's been unclear to me what's been happening, I've been hesitant to write about it. Now, I think that it's time.

About a year ago while I was walking down to a local restaurant to pick up some food, I saw some people in dark clothing pick this guy off of his bicycle. I saw a gun, albeit not drawn and since I wasn't sure what was going on, I walked like I had somewhere to go, knamean! It wasn't until I saw the people put the young man into the "spread 'em" position that I realized that these were cops. There were no visible markings at all. I saw no badges. After that I continued to see these darkly clad people around during the day being very aggressive with kids.

A few weeks ago I heard something like firecrackers in the middle of the night, somewhere around 3 or 4 AM. Then I heard some people running in the direction of our house, close enough that I could hear a man say "open the fucking door," meaning a car door. I called the police and told them what I heard and lay still for the next hour. About two weeks later I heard "firecrackers" again. This time it sounded close enough that I hit the floor and ordered Geoff to do so also. We called the police and waited about two hours before we got back into bed and went to sleep again.

This kind of activity is unusual here. It's been very quiet and peaceful in our little neck of Brooklyn. So of course I asked a neighbor if they heard anything and what was going on. It turns out the first set of "firecrackers" I heard resulted in someone being killed not too far from where we live. The second set of "firecrackers" resulted in nothing at all. Each one of these incidents has received no coverage in the local media so I figured that whatever it was going on was over.

Then the other night when I was getting out of the train I looked around and saw a lot of cops hanging around the train station stairwell. This is not unusual as this is New York and anytime there is a terror alert you will see cops around the train stations. But something about this set my internal alarm off. I don't know why but I felt like something had happened and that Geoff and I should hurry home. I looked on my computer and I received this email from a friend --

MOVEMENT ATTORNEYS EVELYN AND MICHAEL TARRIF WARREN WERE BRUTALIZED BY THE POLICE AND ARRESTED WHILE THEY WERE CONDUCTING A COP WATCH TONIGHT IN BROOKLYN. THE WARRENS WERE OBSERVING THE INTERACTION BETWEEN THE POLICE AND A MEMBER OF THE COMMUNITY WHOM THE POLICE HAD STOPPED WHEN THE POLICE DREW THEIR GUNS AT MICHAEL WARREN. EVELYN WARREN WAS PUNCHED IN THE FACE. THEY ARE BEING HELD AT THE 77TH PRECINCT.

I know Atty. Warren. He was a regular customer at my cafe bookstore (he liked my carrot cake) and I can assure you that he is a perfect gentleman. Why he and his wife would be treated so harshly by the police is a mystery to me. This incident occured at the McDonald's one block right behind my house.

We need the police to protect us but I don't want to be afraid of both the cops and the criminals. It seems to me, as a former merchant in this area, that the cops could do a better job interacting with the community. They don't know us so that anyone -- even a professional -- is considered a suspect before a citizen. We need to be able to call on them when criminal activity is occurring. After incidents like this and the Shawn Bell shooting I must admit that I will hesitate. And if you can't call on the cops when you need them, who can you call?