Sparks Fly At May 2 Roosevelt Island Public Safety Department Community Engagement Meeting - Residents Tell RIOC PSD And NYPD 114 Precinct About Assaults, School Bullying, Harassment & Fire Setting By A Group Of Teens

The Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) hosted a Public Safety Department (PSD) Community Engagement Meeting last Tuesday May 2 at the Good Shepherd Community Center. 

In attendance were RIOC President Shelton Haynes, PSD Chief Kevin Brown, PSD Deputy Chief Anthony Amoroso, NYPD 114 Precinct Commander Deputy Inspector Kenneth Gorman and about 25 Roosevelt Island residents.

The meeting began with Chief Brown offering his condolences to the friends and family of Mary Cavanaugh who recently passed away. Chief Brown praised her participation in the Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) Public Safety Committee calling Mary Cavanaugh "a champion of the causes of Roosevelt Island" and added "we will miss her".

Chief Brown then spoke about some current Public Safety issues including this Sunday's 5 Boro Bike Tour which may cause some traffic disruptions near the Roosevelt Island Bridge/Vernon B'lvd intersection and the temporary closing of the East River Boat Prow while a structural engineer examines it for safety reasons.  

Chief Brown reported these crimes occurring on Roosevelt Island during March and April:

• Grand larceny motorcycle theft at the Motorgate Garage,
  
• Grand Larceny Cell phone theft,
• Shoplifting at Duane Reade and to a lesser extent at Foodtown,
• Assault at Foodtown

According to Chief Brown, the PSD Bike patrol will soon be active. Also, RIOC PSD is looking to hire more officers. PSD currently has 46 officers on staff and a capacity for 51.

Deputy Inspector Gorman reported that the NYPD 114 precinct Youth Coordinating Officer is building relationships with schools on the Island and working with our local youth on sports programs.  He added that Roosevelt Island is a very safe community and the crime rate is very low.

Deputy Inspector Gorman also gave a review of issues facing the 114 precinct as a whole including: 

• increase in robberies
  
• illegal marijuana sales
• Car Theft
• financial account fraud (credit card, savings account etc)
  

What had been a typical Roosevelt Island meeting up to this point was then interrupted by Roosevelt Island father who stood up, said he loves Roosevelt Island and then reported his son had recently been "jumped, beat up, filmed and put on Instagram", and is "scared to death".  The father had met with Chief Brown last Thursday and was told by Chief Brown that he knew the three teenagers who beat up his son and the teenagers were known to be involved in other incidents including an arson.

The father's interruption expressed frustration and outrage that this incident was not mentioned by Chief Brown during his remarks to the community meeting earlier in the evening. Why was this not reported he asked RIOC? 

Chief Brown replied that he did not mention the incident because he thought the father wanted it to remain private.

Other residents spoke out about incidents involving the same 3 teenagers including bullying and threatening students at PS/IS 217, assaulting a couple at Meditation Step and harassment as well as arson at Roosevelt Landings.

Chief Brown and RIOC President Shelton Haynes answered they are aware of the problems caused by the 3 teenagers, the 3 have been arrested 4 times but RIOC and NYPD must work within the constraints of the juvenile legal system. 

Deputy Chief Amoroso added:

... They've been prosecuted in Family Court every single time, not Criminal Court because of their ages. We're enforcing the law but when they go through the system they have certain things set up for juvenile defendants. That's what is being done. That is why they're released again to the parents. This is reoccurring. .. Our office is paying special attention to these individuals that are out there, making sure their in the right building they live in  and not the buildings they don't live in. Keeping an eye out.

We can't go beyond the letter of the law. We're doing everything in our power to follow the letter of the law and keep it safe for the community. That's what community policing is about....

Watch what happened.

After the meeting, RIOC President Shelton Haynes tweeted:

Perhaps @RIOCny @sheltonjhaynes should follow the practices of former RIOC Presidents and answer questions from the Roosevelt Island local press instead of refusing to respond to issues of community concern.

— Roosevelt Islander (@Rooseveltisland) May 4, 2023