NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly was grilled yesterday over the delay in installing a trio of crime-deterring cameras in the Rockaways — as an e-mail surfaced showing that the paperwork is sitting on his desk.
Correspondence between the NYPD’s grant department and a Queens assemblyman indicate the ball is in Kelly’s court.
A source said the only thing holding the cameras back is “his John Hancock.”
“The grant remains up in the Police Commissioner’s Office. They are aware of the urgency surrounding it and have made inquiries about it. I expect it back shortly,” John Underwood, who works in the NYPD’s grant unit, wrote Wednesday to a Queens politician.
“It’s in there for a decision,” said Assemblyman Phillip Goldfeder. “It’s paperwork, that’s what’s so frustrating about this.”
The state in October 2010 approved a $300,000 grant for the NYPD to install the Argus cameras, which residents hoped would help guard a trio of crime-ridden corners, said Danny Ruscillo, head of the 100th Precinct community council.
But the cameras never arrived.
Kelly said that City Comptroller John Liu needs to sign off on the paperwork before the cameras can be put in — and even then it could take a while before they’re installed.
Kelly said that the cameras are being held up by red tape — and that it could still be a while before the Rockaways get them.
“We’re waiting for the contracts to be registered with the comptroller,” Kelly told members of the public safety committee. “That’s the way it goes. We’re hopeful that in a year, year and a half, that we’ll have a total of $8.5 million from the council that we’ll be able to do it with.”
Queens Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. scoffed at the excuse.
“Frankly if the NYPD is stymied by the city’s bureaucracy then I don’t know what chance the average citizen has,” he said.
“It doesn’t seem all that hopeful that they’re going to get Argus cameras any time in the near future. … The people in that precinct are waiting for that Argus camera for a long time.”
The comptroller’s office declined to comment, but a source said the longest that the office would hold the contracts is 30 days.
Rockaway residents are demanding that the NYPD install the high-tech security cameras they were promised years ago.
“It seems like the people in Rockaways are being forgotten,” said Ruscillo. “It’s amazing. It’s been three years and we aren’t getting any cameras.”
Lewis Rumph, 64, who lives near the housing complex where the cameras were expected to be installed, said his 19-year-old son was beat up about two years ago by a gang of men. No arrests were made, he said.
“If there was a surveillance camera, they could’ve IDed the people,” said Rumph. “There’s been talk about cameras for years. Where’s the money? Where’s the cameras? There’s supposed to be cameras up in the whole project. I want to see cameras up all around here.”
“The money has been allocated and it’s ready to be spent and help protect our families,” said Goldfeder. “It’s criminal with the way we’ve been treated and it’s not acceptable.”
An NYPD spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
Crime rose 11.2 percent in the 100th Precinct from this time last year — with burglaries more than doubling from 72 so far this year to 34 at the same time in 2012.
Additional reporting by Dan MacLeod