NYPD’s New Quality of Life Pilot Program Includes East Side Pct

The newly unveiled Quality of Life division of the NYPD officially began performing on April 14 and includes the 13th Precinct on the East Side of Manhattan as one of the first six pilot commands to kick off the new initiative.

After the pilot program is evaluated, it is expected to eventually expand citywide, addressing quality-of-life complaints that typically come in over 311 calls, rather than 911 emergency calls.

The quality-of-life Q Teams will be managed by sergeants focused on quality-of-life who will report to the special-operations lieutenant in the precinct.

“Today is about improving the quality of life for everyday New Yorkers in their neighborhoods, on their blocks, and at their front doors,” said NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who announced the new initiative at a press conference at the 13th Precinct on April 10 with Mayor Eric Adams. Deputy chief William Glynn was named head of the Quality of Life unit, which is eventually expected to involve 2,000 officer when it is rolled out citywide.

“The Q Teams, obviously they may have to deal with violence, but the things that we’re talking about with the Q Teams are very much driven by 311,” Tisch said.

“It’s about addressing conditions that have plagued our communities for years,” Tisch said, “and finally, having a consistent, coordinated plan at the local level to do something about it,” she said.

And she said that reckless e-bikes are among the key areas that the program is intended to tackle.

“It’s actually one of the largest pieces of feedback that I get from New Yorkers about e-bikes and scooters either out of control or up on the sidewalk. And so we’ve done a good, hard look at the data.”

“We’ve looked for where we’re seeing the most complaints, where we’re seeing the most collisions, where we’re seeing the most injuries. And we are deploying our officers accordingly to those corridors to do a major crackdown on this issue,” she said.

Asked if officers would be physically stopping reckless e-bikers, Tisch said they would in some instances.

”So, enforcement is different depending on what the condition is. But yes, in some circumstances, they will be stopping the bikes and they will be deployed in corridors where we’re seeing the most reports of issues with out-of-control e-bikes and scooters.”

Adams has long complained that the drop in crime over the past two years gets scant attention in the media.

Tisch acknowledged there is a perception and reality problem.

“Over the last quarter, the NYPD’s work against crime and violence, as you just heard from the mayor, has been exceptional,” Tisch said. “Shootings at their lowest level ever. The second-fewest homicides in recorded history. Double-digit crime declines in our precincts, in our subways, and our housing developments. Your NYPD officers are doing an incredible job and that should never go unnoticed. But New Yorkers are telling us that even as crime falls, that they still don’t feel safe.,” Tisch acknowledged.

“So we’re putting together a plan to address illegal parking, abandoned vehicles, homeless encampments, unreasonable noise, out-of-control scooters and e-bikes, open-air drug markets, and more. All of this, especially when it’s compounded day after day, gives people the impression of chaos and disorder. It erodes our sense of public safety, and New Yorkers have had enough.

“Over the past six years, calls to 311 centered on quality-of-life issues have nearly doubled,” she pointed out.

Tisch was quick to dispel criticism that the new initiative is a return to zero tolerance.

“The vast majority of New Yorkers have never been the victim of a crime. In fact, most of them have never even witnessed a crime,” she said.

“But many of them have struggled to find parking because abandoned vehicles are taking up spots in the neighborhood, or had to jump out of the way for an e-bike on the sidewalk, or avoided walking through a park with their kids because people were there openly using drugs,” Tisch said.

“These encounters make people feel less safe. They make you not want to walk through the neighborhood or take the bus or go to the corner store. And it’s that feeling that we need to change.”

Adams said: “Issues like illegal vending, substance abuse, abandoned vehicles, illegal mopeds, and reckless driving and more have persisted for far too long. And we want to ensure that we [continue] to move our city in the right direction.”

He said the city will begin tracking the quality-of-life complaints with a new data system called QSTAT, which he said is modeled after the CompStat data program tracking seven major crime categories that was unveiled by then police commissioner Bill Bratton back in the early days of the Giuliani administration.

Aside from the 13th Precinct in Manhattan, the other pilot commands will be the 40th Precinct in the Bronx, the 60th, the 75th, the 101st in Queens, and one police service area that winds through several Brooklyn precincts, Tisch said.

The new initiative drew praise from Francisco Marte, who accompanied Tisch and Adams at the initial press conference. Marte, the head of the Bodega and Small Business Group, said he opened a bodega in the Bronx in the late 1980s and during the course of his career had been shot three times.

“It is true that when I talk to the small business owners I represent, I hear the same complaints. These are exactly what New York is fearing, too. Loud noise, reckless e-bikes [mopeds], illegal parking. For too long, the city government has ignored these quality-of-life complaints. But today, I’m truly with Mayor Adams, and the Police Commissioner Tisch to tackle them head on. Not only addressing this complaint makes our city safer and more livable, it will make New York feel safer, too.”