It feels like a flashback to the 1980s on city streets – an era no one’s nostalgic for.
Overstretched cops are struggling to combat petty crime, according to police sources – resulting in an easing of enforcement that’s taking Manhattan down fast, angry New Yorkers told The Post.
“People tell me they’re scared to come here,” said Greg Agnew, owner of the East Bay Diner on First Avenue at 29th Street. “Guys are hanging out in the street, doing things they’re not supposed to be doing, loitering. They cause fights. They urinate on the floor, There’s drug use.”
Over four days this month, Post reporters watched as large gangs of men loitered around-the-clock outside the 30th Street Men’s Shelter on the grounds of Bellevue Hospital.
“We’re scared to go outside,” said Annie Samuel, 55, a hospital nurse. “When we go home, we always travel in groups.”
Earlier this month, The Post reported that the NYPD had shifted focus away from quality-of-life crimes – such as loitering, urinating and drinking in public, and minor traffic offenses – and was instead focusing on major crime and counterterrorism.
Last year, the number of summonses issued for minor criminal violations dropped by tens of thousands, city data shows.
The neglect is fast sending the city back to the dark days of the pre-Giuliani era, New Yorkers said last week.
In Alphabet City, residents are seeing signs of decay.
“You’re seeing empty drink bottles in the street, you’re catching people urinating. They’re ‘tagging up’ [spray-painting graffiti],” said Anibal Pabon, 44, an office clerk. “All that stuff is coming back.”
Elsewhere in the city, residents reported a spike in petty crime, including the revival of the hated squeegee man.
“The squeegee men and graffiti are like the miner’s canary. They’re a warning sign of worse trouble to come,” said Queens City Councilman Eric Gioia.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said that while the 501,143 minor-offense summonses issued in 2008 were fewer than in 2007, the amount far surpassed the highest number of summonses issued under Giuliani, with 431,462 in 2001.
In addition, police are now strategizing to reduce complaints specific to individual neighborhoods, Browne said.
Additional reporting by Reuven Fenton, Douglas Montero, Brigitte Williams and Tim Perone