BY SCOTT STIFFLER | Save for its June through August summer hiatus, the last Wednesday of the month is when you can expect to attend the citizen-run 10th Precinct Community Council, a rich source of interaction with–and information rfrom–Precint leadership regarding crime and quality of life matters throughout Chelsea. But this month, there will be no talking turkey, so to speak. A November 20 email from Community Council President Larry O’Neill noted the cancellation of November 27’s Council meeting, “as the scheduled date falls on the day before Thanksgiving.” O’Neill’s message continued with a feast of sincere observations regarding the food-centric holiday as an opportune time to “reflect on the strength of our community.”

But the absence of communing Community Council-style was a sticking point for longtime Chelsea resident Pamela Wolff, whose response to that email read, “Too bad, since these meetings have been well-attended and an effective way for the officers to hear unfiltered from the residents about what is happening on the street in our blocks.” Indeed—and Godspeed to our next expected Council meeting, on the last Wednesday of the month…  Wait now, huh? That’s December 25, Christmas Day around these parts. One wonders why this disparity wasn’t addressed in O’Neill’s email announcing the November 27 cancellation. In any event, knowleddge is power, so take this tip: Click Here to follow the 10th Precinct Community Council on Facebook.

With November’s cancellation and the three-month summer hiatus, the Community Council has been a non-event for a full one-third of 2024. As such, we appeal to O’Neill to simply revise the Council’s calendar for future Nov./Dec. meetings by having them fall on the third Wednesday of the month…

For those who wish to get information and give opinions on crime in hyper-specific parts of the 10th Precinct’s area of coverage, the news goes from bad to somewhat bettter. As noted in a November 6 message from @NYPD10Pct—the 10th Precinct’s X (aka Twitter) account—“…our upcoming NCO A and B build the block meetings for 11/8/24 & 11/14/24 have been cancelled. We apologize for an inconvenience and will keep you updated with further details.” More on that in a moment—but first, for the uninitiated, what is a Build the Block meeting?

NCOs, or Neighborhood Coordination Officers, host quarterly “Build the Block” meetings addressing crime and quality of life matters for the 10th Precinct’s three Sectors: A (W. 14th St. to W. 21st St., 7th Ave. to the Hudson), B (North side of W. 21st St. to south side of W. 29th St., from 7th Ave. to the Hudson), and C (W. 29th St. to W. 43rd St., 9th Ave. to the Hudson). Expect introductory comments discussing crime stats, trends, and prevention, with the majority of the meeting devoted to a Q&A session between the NCOs and attendees. Most meetings these days are brick and mortar affairs, after conducting business via Zoom during the pandemic era.

At the time of the 10th Precinct’s November 6 posting on X, both NCOs assigned to Sectors A and B were no longer in those positions–and only one of the two Sector C positions were filled. Some positive news came in the form of a November 19 email sent to Chelsea Community News by Police Officer Betsy Gala, a 10th Precinct NCO whose promptness and accessibility assisted in delivering this article’s up-to-date content. In that email, Officer Gala noted the empty NCO positions have been filled: “Sector A will be P.O. [Police Officer] Fletcher and P.O. Mattos. Sector B will be P.O. Viscio and P.O. Waters. We still don’t have btb [Build the Block] dates set up.” P.O. Gala provided further info in a November 27 meeting, noting, “P.O. Fletcher and P.O. Mattos are having their [Sector A] meeting on Wednesday 12/04/2024 at 5pm [at the 10th Precinct, 230 W. 20th St. btw. Seventh & Eighth Aves.]. Sector B’s meeting has not scheduled yet.”

On November 27, P.O. Gala noted, by phone, that a fully staffed Sector C will also have its fourth quarter Build the Block meeting at 5pm on December 5 (at Manhattan Plaza, 400 W. 43rd St.). The below image–a screenshot taken by CCNews on November 27, 2024–confirms that. The image contains the results of a Sector C search, using the NYPD’s “Find Your Build the Block Meeting” search tool (click here to access it).

The Sector C results, as encouraging as they are, score the search tool at “one out of three”–because a November 27 search for Sector A and B yielded no info as to the Dec. 5 date confirmed by P.O. Gala, and both Sector search results still gave the names and email addresses of Sector NCOs who were no longer in those positions. What’s more, the “When/Where” section provides only a hardly helpful “undefined NaN, NaN.” (See below, the 11/27/2024 search results for Sector A.)

Just as discouraging in the search for accurate Build the Block info was our November 27 visit to the 10th Precinct’s nyc.gov page (click here to access it). There, we found inaccurate contact info for the NCOs, and a Build a Block search box whose results yielded no information about currently scheduled meeting dates and locations as well as the inaccurate NCO info. (See below, a screenshot of NCO listings on the 10th Precinct’s nyc.gov page).

It should be noted that CCNews has, on several occasions over the past year, informed the 10th Precinct and DCPI (Deputy Commissioner, Public Information) of this Build the Block search deficiency on its nyc.gov page (i.e. the search yields NCO info but no when/where info). Also note that CCNews requested, via email sent on two occasions to DCPI, to interview the 10th Precinct’s leader, Commanding Officer Captain Alexander R. Brathwaite, as a way to provide the community with information in the absence of November’s cancelled Build the Block and Community Council meetings. Neither message has been responded to. But for those who do for themselves, the info desert yields two sources of welcome H2O–and they’re not mere mirages. Click here to visit the 10th Precinct’s nyc.gov page and you’ll find, atop that page, options to download the precinct’s most recent crime and traffic statistics, in PDF or Excel formats.

Good news also came from the 10th Precinct in a November 6 message via X, alerting the community a much-needed boost in the number of Officers assigned to the 10th.

Although these new recruits, fresh from the Academy, do not have the seniority necessary to become NCOs, their presence will allow for a more-often boots-on-he-ground patrol of high-crime locations in Chelsea, including West 21st Street and Eighth Ave. (as stated by the precinct’s CO at numerous 2024 Community Council Meetings).

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