Mayhem in Homeless Shelters: Harlem Domestic Heroin Trader Appears

The situation in New York’s homeless shelters is so insecure that one of Harlem’s institutions has its own internal heroin dealer, the newspaper said. New York Post.

So, in September of this year in the Harlem area at the Parkview Inn resident, his resident, 52-year-old Alice Cuesta, was arrested. She had 60 glasses of heroin with her, which she clumsily dropped right in front of a New York police sergeant in an elevator, prosecutors said in court documents.

It is noted that a similar situation is observed in shelters throughout the city.

At the same time, employees of the Department of Internal Security do not have enough time and support to conduct thorough investigations, and therefore more and more people do not feel safe on the street.

The situation became even more frightening after last week four homeless people were killed by a crazy tramp in Chinatown and a 6-year-old boy was brutally attacked by a street bum in Queens.

On the subject: 'Hit his head on the ground': in New York, the homeless attacked a child

What say the residents of the shelter

“I don’t feel safe here. At all. It's terrible, ”complains the 66-year-old resident of Parkview, who declined to give her name for fear of reprisals at the shelter. “That's why people prefer to live on the streets,” she said, referring to security concerns at the shelter.

Another Parkview resident, an 26-year-old female survivor of domestic violence, said: “There needs to be some kind of control, because it is not safe for everyone.”

Internal investigation

As of the end of September, 95 residents (nearly half of Parkview's 192 customers) were at risk, endangering others or themselves.

The group of these people included: 25 mentally ill clients, 20 - parolees, four of whom were identified as sex offenders, two were recently arrested, one was released from prison.

“Even though all residents pass through the metal detector, their bags are checked at the entrance,“ heroin does not ring in the metal detector, ”said one of the policemen on condition of anonymity.

And the inhabitants of the shelter know about this, because they carry smuggling, just hiding it in underwear, bras and socks, the source says, adding that “there is almost nothing to be done about it.”

As one of the policemen noted, there must be a reason to have a reason to check the guest of the shelter. “We need to see some kind of bulge that clearly looks like a gun, knife or something very illegal in order to do something about it,” he said.

On the subject: Hunting tramps: in New York, homeless people were beaten to death

If the resident of the shelter has nothing that is a deadly weapon, he can freely go outside, abandon smuggling and enter again.

At the same time, law enforcement officers can conduct only a superficial inspection, and for a more serious inspection a special warrant will be required.

But even if a person is found to be smuggled, he can only be arrested if there were witnesses in the premises during the inspection.

Smuggling: what they find most often

Smuggling found in city shelters ranges from drugs, weapons and ammunition to copper knuckles and a long knife hidden in a cane, the newspaper said.

At the same time, shelter employees do not have much influence on guests due to smuggling. They can restrict access to social services, including housing, for 7-30 days, “but this was rare, because in 2014, Stephen Banks was appointed Commissioner of the Department of Social Services, who oversees the work of the Department of Homeland Security,” the source said.

Officers of the Department of Homeland Security, for their part, reported that their work was seriously hampered due to a chronic lack of staff.

To fill this gap, the agency often turns to private security guards who help patrol shelters for the homeless, “but even some of them, obviously, cannot be trusted,” the source said.

As noted in the Department of Homeland Security, in 2017, a guard at Parkview tried to beat the leader with his walkie-talkie after he was found drunk at the workplace. The man was temporarily suspended, and now he does not work anywhere.

The authorities' response

The representative of the Department of Homeland Security emphasized that protecting the security of all New Yorkers is a priority that the agency is trying to provide in conjunction with the New York City Police Department. He added that the department’s plans include continuing cooperation with the police “in this place and shelters throughout the city so that all homeless New Yorkers can stand on their feet in a safe and favorable environment.”

New York Police Commissioner Assistant Devora Kay said Alice Cuesta’s arrest was “an example of a good outcome based on the collaboration of the New York Police and the Department of Homeland Security.”

“We continue to work together to guarantee residents and their families a safe stay in their homes and protect against promiscuous crimes,” Kay said.

Cuesta's lawyer did not respond to a request regarding the charge of his client with possession of drugs and their distribution.