The NYPD 66th Precinct Community Council Meeting 2/19/26

to everyone that's here. Uh thank you all for being here. Uh just want to do a huge shout out to for literally the last week uh saving one of our own cops uh within the command. Um, one of our cops was having difficulties uh breathing uh experiencing uh hot flashes and turns out that he's actually having a heart attack uh inside the command and Hola with within minutes responded and really because of their actions um you know uh officer Holio survived uh this episode and so for that I'm very grateful to Hatah for their quick response and the things that they do not just for us but uh everyone in the community. So I'm very thankful to So wanted to start off uh just a couple of changes um since the last time I've been here. Um our exo, former exo, uh Captain Larry W has been transferred over to Highway 3 where he's now the commanding officer of Highway 3. So congratulate him. I saw him earlier today. stopped by the command today all decked out in his highway uniform and really uh just want to wish him well in that we do also have >> the jacket too. >> Yeah, he's wearing the leather jacket and my boots and everything. Uh he's having a blast and I'm very happy for him. You know, the time that we spent together was a great time and I I look forward to seeing his progress uh here in this department as well. We do have a new exo uh Captain Kevin Cascone who uh was formerly assigned to 66. He was a midnight platoon commander and most recently in IAB. He comes with a wealth of experience uh not just from within the command but also understanding uh the intricacies of IB uh what what they look for in in the department and that goes a long way in terms of compliance which is essential to operating a um a precinct. So his skill set is definitely essential to uh streamlining the type of work that we do in our command and making sure that professionalism and standards are held very high. So welcome unfortunately couldn't be here today. Uh and that's in part due to uh him working at midnight last night. Uh but you guys will see him around u over the course of the time that he will be assigned with us in 66. Um last time I was here I forgot to also formally introduce uh officer Vitalico and his role uh with community affairs. Officer Natalico formerly was a YCO, a youth coordination officer. Uh now serving in the capacity of community affairs. Uh he has taken over uh James Jamon um and his role. He now counts terrorism. So I wanted to formally welcome officer. Just other changes as well. Um changes involving our Q teams. Um we have Sergeant Mani and Sergeant Deacon who are also taking over the Q team which focuses on quality of life matters. A lot of those quality of life uh conditions and some of your concerns as constituents uh of this command. Um so I I do want to ensure that their information, their phone numbers are transferred over to you guys. Uh and that's something that I'll be willing to share with you guys uh after the conclusion of this meeting. I'll share their phone numbers so that everyone uh is aware of who to reach out as it relates to quality of life matters in the confines of this command. Uh as it relates to crime, as I always do, I just focus on some of the crime issues that we're seeing in the confines of this command. Uh the last time we spoke quite literally the last time we spoke, I was talking about the incoming snow uh that we're going to experience. And um you know, I think that kind of paralyzed crime for a little bit. Um, you know, we all we didn't see any like heavy spikes in crime because we had experienced snow, I'd like to say, and also the good work that's being done outside in the confines of the command, but really uh you know, everything kind of like slowed down for a little bit. Uh, I guess everybody was snowed in or too late to shovel, but we didn't see uh the level of stolen vehicles. And I say stolen vehicles because that tends to be an issue that we continuously struggle with uh not just in the confines of this command, but throughout the city. Um and you know now that we see the s the snow trying to dissipate we are seeing u issues again related to stolen vehicles and the command. We're seeing vehicles that are being rented out and this is kind of what um you know what's triggering the issue right? What we're seeing is high-end vehicles that are being rented out to essentially brokers and brokers are subleting those vehicles to people with u bad intentions and they're utilizing those vehicles to steal other vehicles. Uh the type of vehicles that we're seeing that are being stolen within the confines of this command tend to be late model Toyotas. Toyotas Sequoas Highlanders um to Sequoas Highlanders and um from the last um >> Tundras. Tundras is that new it's a new pickup that we're starting to see as well. Uh Toyotaas, Sequoas, Tundras, and Highlanders. Um for anyone that owns one of those vehicles, please please um put a a uh GPS on on the car. Uh a title is something that I've recommended in the past. I don't necessarily recommend the Apple Air Tag in part because it does give a person a notification that an Apple Air Tag is in the car. Uh but a title does not. Um so that's some of the preventative measures and I also talk always about the club. Uh whether or not that's going to completely stop someone from stealing a car, I don't know, but it'll definitely slow someone down and make someone reconsider stealing a car. Uh I think the last time I spoke about this, uh someone actually title because of of this type of community council meeting and uh their vehicle was recovered. So we do see that level of success uh when people take those type of renovative preventative measures to en to ensure that their car um is tracked and that we can find their car in a relatively quick manner. Another important thing that I want to mention u if you do install this type of tile device into your car or it could be any other type of tracking device um don't put it in obvious Because that's another thing that we're seeing. You know, some people are just leaving it in cup holders or they leave it in the glove box and things are going to go through the car, right? And once they go through the car and they find it, they toss it out. And that's another thing we f we find that often times we have dead ends where we'll find the tile device, but we can't find the car. So, that's an important point important point to mention as well. Um and then one of the other things that we're seeing uh an increase in climb that we're starting to see um not as significant as the stolen vehicles uh but we are seeing that people are targeting again tends to be kind of a seasonal crime um for whatever reason. I'm not too sure why but it tends to happen in the winter time. People are starting to break into commercial vehicles uh for the tools. So to those people who have those types of sprinter vehicles with uh tools, please ensure that your vehicle is parked in an area, one that's either enclosed or in an area that's well lit and with a video surveillance system around. We need as much proative video to fully investigate this. Uh we've had three incidents so far in the confines as command in the past 28 days. Um, so this is a a growing concern for us and obviously for our constituents who many of whom own businesses and have these types of vehicles. Um, outside of the the crime spectrum, you know, we spoke a little bit about the Luna New Year, there going to be approximately four uh parades coming up. Um, there parades coming up in the next couple days. Uh, one of those parades is tomorrow, the 20th, um, which extends from 7th Avenue 6 Street to 50 Street and that's from 12 to 3. Um we have another Luna New Year parade on Sunday the 22nd on 8th Avenue between 60 and 50 from 12 to 3. We have another Luna New Year parade on the 28th. This encompasses three avenues, uh, 9th, 8th, and 7th Avenue, 60 to 50 that goes from 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. And then we have another New Year parade on March 1st on 8th Avenue between 50 and 60 from 12:00 to 3. Following that, uh, we have the Porum um, detail uh, which is going on on March 2nd and 3rd. on March 2nd, you know, we're focusing on the hours um from 5:00 p p.m. to approximately 4:00 a.m. and then into March 3rd from the very early morning hours till about 2:00 a.m. So there's there's a lot of things going to be are going to be happening in the confines of this command. Uh as always, we also have a rundown detail over the next couple of Fridays uh to ensure that we are protecting and and overseeing mosques in the confines of this command. Uh, that's all I have. I don't know if anyone has any questions for me or any concerns that I could probably address. Any questions or concerns? Stealing them, potentially using them for other types of crimes. Uh, so from our law enforcement perspective, we're looking at uh scooters that are unregistered, uninsured, parked on sidewalks. Um, they're as much of a nuisance to everyone else, but we also want to prevent them from being stolen as well. Uh, so that's an issue and concern for us as well. Thank you for the police, especially for the Chinese. I know for the next couple of weekends, it'll be very busy with parades and fireworks and all that. So, I have to thank thank your uh your police officer and uh for our community as well. Thank you. As as you know, uh this this one there's two things in as a state legislature. Two things my job as state legislature. First is to make bills. Second is to pass the budget. Those are two basic things. Everything else is extra. And one thing for sure, okay, wherever this new mayor proposal for this property tax or personal income tax, I will fight every way against it because it's killing us, killing our what they call affordability. Okay? Guaranteed I will fight this, including my my colleagues up up in opening. We will fight every single way. It has to pass through at least one of my one of my committee either housing committee or city's committee. and they have series of committees that have to pass through and uh I believe there are some Democrats uh don't want this tax increase. So that's that's first thing for sure. Second, NYPD, I will create a bill again three times to get back to qualified immunity. The city council a couple years ago stripped it away. I'm going to fight that again to make it complete coverage the entire state qualified immunity for all law enforcement. They uh they did not pass through the the committee. I will reintroduce again this year. Okay. And uh and in the next the budget whatever whatever upcoming budget I am against any tax increases at all. I will fight for that because we have to learn to spend within our means not more than that. Okay. So I do support universal child care but we have to find a way how to how to pay for that. There are plenty of ways to pay for it. cut some program that I believe is wasteful. It's all about managing, right? It's all about managing. So that's where my position are. I support univer universal childcare. I support gifted and talented program. And one thing about education, the federal government, department of education, the federal government gave each state an option to have school vouchers basically for parental school choices. Basically, New York State may not want to entertain. We're talking about several billion dollars in the price tag to change the program for what it is. And I will fight to support the federal government program. I believe that money should follow the kids, not the money following a failed system such as public school. We spent $40,000 per student. $40,000 per student. And our education level is gaining 50% of the