Police Officers Manny Rodriguez and Andrew Rodriguez have been assigned to patrol in Stuyvesant Town. (Photo by Maria Rocha-Buschel)
By Maria Rocha-Buschel
A new program aimed at getting police officers better acquainted with members of the community where they patrol launched at the 13th Precinct on Tuesday with NYPD introduced residents to the officers who would be assigned to their blocks.
NYPD’s Chief of Patrol Rodney Harrison emphasized that the new initiative, known as the Neighborhood Coordinating Officer (NCO) program, is aimed at building relationships and is similar to CPOP, a community policing program that the department discontinued about 20 years ago.
Residents at the launch had questions about exactly what kind of problems the NCO officers can help with, and Harrison encouraged everyone at the meeting to get in touch with their NCO officer, whether or not they have a problem.
“The most important thing is that everyone gets home safely to their families,” Harrison said of the program’s goal.
