By David Cruz

National Night Out Against Crime serves as a promotional outreach event humanizing police, while forging a better bond between community and police.

At the 52nd Precinct, as in most precincts throughout the city for the past 31 years, National Night Out Against Crime drew officers out of their regular patrol and to Williamsbridge Oval Park. There they gathered with community members who took advantage of giveaways, music, and free food and backpacks all while mingling with officers.

“[Officers] see the community differently, and they see us in a different light,” said Inspector Nilda Hofmann, commanding officer of the Five-Two. This year marks her first National Night Out Against Crime since being assigned to the northwest Bronx station house.

Officers were out there and in a different light—some wore rented costumes of familiar Marvel Comics superheroes, snapping photos with young ones. To some, police are viewed as heroes. To others the perception is skewed by incidents.

With National Night Out Against Crime, the attempt is purely public relations, intended to stem the complicated divide between the community and police. At times the relationships are stymied, given the flavor-of-the-week perceptions and unfavorable actions taken by officers.

This year the national event comes under a shadow of police scrutiny, with parts of the city still sorting out the events within the confines of the 120^th Precinct in Staten Island. It’s there where a plainclothes officer applied an NYPD banned chokehold to subdue Eric Garner, a 350-pound man suspected of selling untaxed cigarettes last month. He later died from the chokehold and other health-related conditions, according to an autopsy.

The event sparked outrage among pockets of communities, calling for federal investigations. Locals looked upon the tragedy as a teachable moment, with some calling on better community relations between the community and police.

“When I grew up down in the Lower East Side, I can remember officers would know individuals by name, and people would know the officer,” said Carlos Gonzalez, a new member of Community Board 7, which hears complaints from neighbors in Norwood. “Here, it’s not that way, it’s more on a confrontational basis.”

Nilsa Cintron, another Board member, agreed that better community policing starts with officers walking the beat.

“The mentality has to change,” said Cintron. “And in order for that to change the police need to go out and meet one to one.”

The sentiment was shared by D. Major, a neighbor waiting at a line for some hotdogs. Despite its merits, Major sees National Night Out Against Crime as “not enough,” sensing more police outreach helps “find out what else [police] can do to bring people together.”

The 52^nd Precinct does have its own community council, a body that offers residents the chance to air their grievances directly to the precinct’s commanding officer while shedding light over any possible disputes or quality of life dangers.

But attendance and awareness of the panel is very low, according to Brenda Cauldwell, the longtime president of the precinct council. In many ways, the body has fallen under the radar for various reasons, mainly the lack of knowledge of the council, said Cauldwell.

“They need to come to the community council meetings,” said Cauldwell of neighbors. Still, with the Garner case, Cauldwell understands that a wedge can be driven between the police and community.

“It makes someone, who’s part of this organization, job harder because how are we telling people to try and form a relationship when we have something like that going forward?” she said.

Throughout the year, crime statistics in the 52nd Precinct have seen a seesaw effect, with some weeks faring better than others. In the week of July 21, crime went up 0.95 percent, with burglaries contributing to the increase. This year, burglaries ticked up 12.6 percent, with 215 cases reported this year from 191 cases the same time this year.

At its core, National Night Out Against Crime works to root out any future crimes. Children certainly outnumbered adults, a good sign for Earl Marion, a Bedford Park father who works as a correction officer in Westchester County. He remained cautiously optimistic the promotional event would be effective for children.

“We see them now, this is nice because they have free food, free entertainment,” said Marion. “But then when they come home are they gonna be robbing an old lady?”

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.