by David Greene

The spate of gun violence in the northwest portion of the Bronx has compelled officers at one 47th Precinct to change tactics as a fresh batch of new recruits heads to the precinct.  Police headquarters has honored Deputy Inspector Ruel Stephenson’s request for more officers at the 47th Precinct, which covers Woodlawn, Wakefield, Eastchester and Edenwald. Roughly six-dozen new officers will be deployed to neighborhoods that fall within that precinct, as part of the Operation Impact program.

Detectives at the embattled precinct were already conducting a long-term investigation into gangs in the area. The police responded to the increase in crime shortly after the shoorting death of Lamont Smith of Yonkers, who died outside of P.S. 112 in Edenwald. Smith, 45, was shot along East 229th Street, just a half block away from PSA 8 and a black and half from the 47th Precinct.

The following day police announced the arrest of Dwayne Reid, 43, of Larchmont, N.Y., who was charged with several offences including second degree murder and manslaughter. Down the block from the crime scene one Edenwald resident fumed, “All the police do is give you a summons for drinking a beer or harass you for no reason.” The resident added, “These cops live in the suburbs and don’t live here, they work here but they don’t know what’s going on.” According to NYPD statistics, Smith’s shooting was the 21st shooting reported in the 47th Precinct in the first five months of 2014, compared with 11 in 2013.

The 47th Precinct also reported 9 murders between January and May, compared with just one during the same time period in 2013. Stephenson, who was assigned to the 47th Precinct back in April, has also begun his own pilot program asking officers to develop contacts with at least one person or family on every block in the entire command in an effort to build a database of information and learn about problems before the violence occurs.

Father Richard Gorman, the Chairman of Community 12, which borders the Four-Seven, lives across the street from where Smith died. He applauded the additional officers coming to the area. Gorman told the Norwood News that the major uptick in crime confirms the there “are not enough cops in the 47th Precinct” over the last 20 years.

He added that the 47th Precinct is one of the largest in the city with 5 square miles of terrain. Gorman noted that “the increase in crime is absolutely frightening.” “There’s way too many guns out here,” he added. Councilman Andy King of the 12th City Council District believes that the uptick in violent crime could be better fought with more jobs and more educational and recreational services for the young members of his community.

In favor of the new initiative put forward by Stephenson, King recalled growing up and knowing the beat cop stationed along White Plains Road. “I knew him by name and he knew me by name… that’s what community policing is supposed to be,” King recalled. “I spoke with Commissioner (Bill) Bratton about resources to help us make our communities a little more safer and to make sure we are all on the same page.” King also noted that long delayed security cameras at the Gun Hill Houses, Boston Secor, Eastchester and Edenwald Houses would be coming online in the near future.

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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.