“Hey there!” called the cheerful cyclists to the hooded man in baggy clothes hobbling around the neighborhood. “If you see anything suspicious, let us know.”
A new citizens patrol was making the rounds in East Rock Wednesday night, looking out for — and keeping tabs on — suspicious activities. They carried flyers, not guns.
Some walked. Some, like David Streever, a bicycling activist known around town for his unicycling skills, patrolled on two wheels. The big turnout Wednesday night — 16 walkers, eight bicyclists and five dogs — came one day after a Yale law student was held up at gunpoint on Bishop Street, the latest in a string of street crimes that have unnerved the neighborhood. The riders’ ranks were bolstered by members of the SoHu block watch, which just a couple weeks ago was on the verge of creating an Edgewood-style armed brigade.
Nearly two dozen neighbors convened, without weapons, around 9:15 p.m. at the corner of Orange and Humphrey Streets. Five groups fanned out into the neighborhood, their routes passing through areas that had been hit by car thefts, car break-ins, or muggings.
Streever and a group of bikers headed north. Among the group were East Rock Alderman Roland Lemar and State Street neighborhood activist Ben Berkowitz (right to left in photo above). Michaelangelo Palmieri, head of the Bishop Street block watch and a probation officer, jumped on a bike for the first time in seven years to join the ride. Advocate writer Betsy Yagla hopped on board on her way home from dance class. Friends of East Rock Park maven Justin Elicker joined in, too, bringing two roommates in tow.
Guided by crime reports and tips on SeeClickFix, a citizen reporting website Berkowitz invented, the group glided past trouble spots — a dark parking lot on Canner Street rumored to be a drug-dealing zone; a park where teens hang out at night; poorly lit areas that have suffered from car thefts.
“Suspicious People”
Towards the end of the night, around 10:45 p.m., only three of the bikers (in photo above) remained, plus this reporter. From Canner Street, Streever spotted a man in a tan, hooded jacket walking towards the park. He disappeared behind a Dumpster on Orange Street and emerged again, in a brisk, uneven gait. They had spotted him before, down by the Mobil Station, his baggy clothes obscuring his face.
“Let’s go talk to him,” said Streever. “Do you have any sheets?”
The flyers are titled “East Rock Neighbors: Eyes Open and Cell Phones Ready.” They explain how the group, which does not call itself a patrol, seeks to keep neighbors safe by adding more eyes to the street. No one had any flyers on hand. Streever rolled up to the man.
“How’s it going?” said Streever, a 27-year-old web developer. The man stopped.
“We’re the block watch,” continued Streever. “We just want to let you know to look out for any suspicious people.” He told him that the area is under surveillance, both by the block watch, uniformed cops and undercover cops (a fact the police department confirmed). There’ve been a lot of car break-ins and muggings, he told the man. “If you see anything suspicious, let us know.”
OK, replied the man. He rubbed his eyes and kept walking.
“Be careful!” called out the bikers as they pedaled away.
The Disappearing Beat
Streever and Berkowitz started the nightly rides a few weeks ago. They were responding to an uptick in crime and an announcement by the police chief, at a SoHu block watch meeting, that the department does not have the staff to assign a regular patrol cop exclusively to the East Rock neighborhood.
East Rock shares its police district with Newhallville, and patrol cops spend most of their time on the other side of the hill, where gun violence is more prevalent. Neighbors have long been crying out for a steady beat cop in the State Street commercial area ever since their beloved bike cop, Officer Brian Donnelly, retired from the force. Two cops have since carried out short stints in the neighborhood, but resources have been pulled away to areas with more severe crime. ( Click here to read background on the battle for more police presence).
Designating an officer just for the State Street/ SoHu area “would be a luxury” at this point, said police spokesman Officer Joe Avery. Police are more concerned about “about the major crimes that are encroaching on the area.”
The chief’s pronouncement sent a ripple of frustration, bordering on panic, through dedicated block watch members in SoHu (the area South of Humphrey, bounded by Bradley, Orange and State Streets).
Block watch leader Lisa Siedlarz, who has lived in East Rock her whole life, said she’s frustrated by a spike in crime — a rash of car thefts and three armed robberies — and more frustrated by a lack of police presence.
“It just seems like it’s spiked to a point out of control,” said Siedlarz, who was walking the beat Wednesday night. One of the walking groups came across a suspicious-looking man peering into cars. He was spotted again, leaning in the shadow of a tree on State Street outside St. Stanislaus Church, she said.
The SoHu group has been out walking since Sunday. They came to the Streever-Berkowitz patrol after a heated discussion in which some members proposed starting an armed effort, Edgewood-style.
“There are definitely people who want to start an armed patrol, and we want to avoid that,” said Siedlarz. Walking around with guns “sends the wrong message,” she said.
Instead, the SoHu group walked around with flyers encouraging neighbors to keep their porch lights on so that car thieves and muggers can’t hide in the shadows.
The group is a proactive response that helps neighbors overcome fear and seek safety in numbers, she said.
“I don’t want to take my dogs out at night because I’m thinking, someone is out there with a gun, holding people up.” Now she can walk her dogs at night, and chat with neighbors along the way. The SoHu group has come together through monthly meetings and an epic summer tree-planting. “It has brought a sense of community in an area that that had been missing for a long time.”
Meanwhile, neighbors are circulating a petition asking for more police presence in the neighborhood (Click here to read it).
“We want a consistent presence on the street,” said Alderman Lemar — at least during the times of the year, such as late summer/early fall, where crime tends to spike. The State Street corridor is the only commercial thoroughfare without such a regular presence, he pointed out. Neighbors “should have a neighborhood officer they can rely on.”
Meanwhile, neighbors plan to continue the nightly rides and walks, seven days a week. The group is organizing through an internet calendar: Click here to learn more.