Regular cops cuff NYC shoplifter while special quality-of-life team ignores nearby strung-out junkies
Routine patrol cops came along just in time Thursday to cuff a shoplifter on Coney Island’s boardwalk — while one of the NYPD’s special new “quality-of-life” teams ignored a crew of apparently strung-out homeless junkies who commandeered a nearby gazebo.Officers on regular duty with the 60th Precinct happened to be in the right place at the right time to bust a thief who private store security was holding at the Brooklyn Beach Shop.“I called 911, and it was taking a little while for them to answer, and it was just quicker for me to flag an officer down who happened to be right outside,” store owner Maya Miller told The Post.As for the separate special five-member quality-of-life cop squad — part of Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch’s initiative to crack down on the most frequent 311 complaints — its members warned a dog owner about having his pup off a leash and escorted a scooter-riding scofflaw off the boardwalk.But the quality-of-life cops walked past an apparent homeless encampment in a beachfront gazebo without doing anything — even though The Post pointed it out to the officers and police brass have said such issues would be a focal point of the special teams.Locals griped that the unwelcome denizens are a constant nuisance.“Those homeless guys up there? We came here at 10 a.m., and they were here,” said resident Noely Quinones.“They crash here.
Quality-of-cops are going to start enforcing? I hope they do something right.”Bath Beach resident Joe Tragona and his wife, Diane, said the encampment is an ongoing issue.“We both grew up here, and we’ve been coming here our whole lives, and on the whole, it’s always pretty good with the police.I mean, they do a great job,” Tragona said.
“But when it starts to get dark, it’s chaos,” he said.“People having too much to drink getting too wild.
You can’t really be down here then.”Diane Tragona added, “It’s always homeless people in there.“It’s an issue we’d lik...