A state senator called a special community meeting Wednesday night in response to an alarming spike in crime numbers in upper Manhattan.
Sen. Adriano Espaillat (D-Manhattan/Bronx) is organizing a community patrol group to help deal with the loss of 50 beat cops from the 34th Precinct, which community activists attributed to the burgeoning crime problems in Washington Heights and Inwood.
“If we don’t get more officers, we need to be the eyes and ears for each other,” Community Board Vice President Cheryl Pham said.
Last week, a teacher was allegedly raped at gunpoint in Inwood by an off-duty cop, Michael Pena, cops said.
Espaillat is pairing up with the neighborhood watch organization, the Guardian Angels, to offer a free self-defense class for women on Sept. 1st from 6:45 PM to 8:45 PM at Northeast Academy located at 532 West 215th Street.
The meeting comes after the commanding officer of the 34th Precinct, Deputy Inspector Jose Navarro, was replaced.
About two weeks before reports were published about the uptick in crimes — including rapes, robberies and murders — Navarro received a lashing at One Police Plaza and was replaced, the Post reported.
The replacement was so quick that police officials replaced Navarro with Deputy Inspector Barry Buzzetti, who was stripped of a Bronx command in 2006 for viewing soft-core porn on his work computer, the sources said.
The senator and the precinct’s community council group sent letters to Police Commissioner Kelly’s office slamming the decision and asking for reconsideration of the matter.