Residents of a block in New York hired armed guards to patrol the streets teeming with drug addicts

The crime rate and complaints about the quality of life in Greenwich Village have become so high that the community group hired armed guards to patrol their street and crack down on drug dealing, crack smoking and public defecation, reports New York Post.

The West 4th Mac/6th Block has hired security personnel armed with handguns to watch West Fourth Street between MacDougal Street and Sixth Avenue during August.

Resident Brian Maloney said the area, where he has lived for 16 years, is suffering from an influx of emotionally disturbed drug addicts. As well as the outflow of cops, exacerbated by bail reform and the leniency of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

According to him, private security was the only logical way to deal with the chaos of the justice system.

“We have residents who say, 'We're a liberal city.'' Well, I've lost my liberalism on this issue,” Maloney said. “The security certainly gave me peace of mind.”

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Maloney and his neighbors are not alone. Other groups, such as the Village Alliance business improvement district and the West 9th Street Block Association, have employed unarmed private security guards to patrol their streets in the past.

Maloney said that in the first two weeks, armed guards encountered 200 drug addicts, dealers and vagrants. And kicked them out of the neighborhood. But as soon as the shift ended, the dark characters returned.

“The Village has always had a certain low-brow charm, but now it's just lawless,” said another resident. - With security, you return home and rejoice that no one is on my porch. I was relieved not to find dealers and drug addicts in my neighborhood. It's like going back to 2018."

Florida-based Cindy Slater moved her daughter Jessica into an apartment on West 4th Street in May and was immediately horrified.

“The first night we were there, the guy walked right up to us, dropped his pants and showed his penis,” she said. “People were writing on the porch next door. We walk around and step over piles of shit. Open drug use and trafficking thrives here. And then constant screaming all night long.”

Slater said most of that dirt was gone when the patrols showed up. “I would like year-round security. But it is, unfortunately, very expensive.”

The security firm was paid $18 a month, according to Maloney. The Association of Neighborhoods can extend the term for hiring security guards, but for now this is up in the air. So far, only 000 residents out of a potential 10 have taken part in the test program.

“We need XNUMX/XNUMX security,” Maloney said. “The most frustrating thing is paying for it out of your own pocket, on top of exorbitant taxes and rising prices at the grocery store. Taxes are going up and our quality of life is going down. We don't have to pay for this. But there really aren't enough cops here. And everyone they arrest is released in an hour.”

The NYPD 6th Precinct, which patrols the neighborhood, recorded the largest increase in major crimes in all of Manhattan, at 81%. And in the first place are burglaries and in especially large sizes. There have been two homicides so far compared to zero in 2021. And the number of rapes and violent crimes increased by 43% and 8% respectively. The number of petty thefts increased from 840 to 1334, and the number of assaults related to petty offenses increased by 40%.

But some called private patrols a waste of money.

“I paid my share for the month. It cost a couple of hundred dollars, but I didn't see the security. So I see no reason to bring back the guards,” said Elias Tsikis, owner of a Washington Square diner. “I also had the same crazy people trying to enter my shop or begging. They also molested my customers from the outside.”

Photos provided by locals show heroin addicts sitting on a porch, a man walking through the neighborhood with a penis sticking out from his belt, and homeless people urinating on the pavement.

“We see defecation, urination, masturbation. We have everything you want,” Maloney said.

One resident, who asked not to be named, said she had never seen her neighborhood, and the whole city, so terrible.

“I lived through the 70s and 80s when people said it was very hard. Then I was never afraid. Now I'm afraid, she said. “It all comes from above. And Manhattan District Attorney Bragg didn't help any of us."