The 69th Precinct Community Council started off its first meeting of the year with a moment of silence for two police officers, Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora, who lost their lives in the line of duty while responding to a domestic violence incident in Harlem on Friday, January 21st. Officer Rivera, a 22-year-old rookie cop, died that Friday, and Officer Mora was clinging to life but succumbed to his injuries four days later.
Due to the surge in COVID-19 cases, the Tuesday, January 25th meeting was held via Zoom. Council Vice President Melba Brown presided over the meeting in the absence of Council President Gardy Brazela. The mood was somber, as everyone learned of the news of Mora’s death just a few hours earlier. Brown read a letter on behalf of Brazela:
“It is with great sadness that we have learned that Officer Wilbert Mora has succumbed to his injury this afternoon. On behalf of the 69th Precinct Community Council, we offer our condolences to the Mora family, his friends and the NYPD. May God rest his soul and bring comfort to everyone impacted by this tragedy. God bless you.”
Condolences were offered by everyone on the call, including our local elected officials and community leaders.
Brown welcomed Captain Elissa Carlies, executive officer of the 69th Precinct, who gave an update on behalf of Commanding Officer Captain Khandakar Abdullah who was unable to attend the meeting.
Captain Carlies asked everyone to keep our city in prayer. “The NYPD is in great morning right now. Please keep the families of our fallen officers in your prayers. They were good people. They were helping others. That is what we do every day with no hesitation,” she said.
Carlies said that 2021 was a good year for the precinct. Index crimes (which include murder, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, larceny and grand larceny auto) were down last year. “We had 661 index crimes in 2021 compared to 750 in 2020,” she reported.
In 2021, murders were up while shooting incidents were down. “Last year, we had a total of 11 murders versus four murders in 2020. There were 25 shooting incidents, with 32 victims, in 2021, whereas there were 39 shooting incidents, with 47 shooting victims, in 2020,” Carlies said.
She admitted that we have had a rough start to 2022 but believes that it will turn around. There were already 67 index crimes this year compared to 34 over the same period in 2021. And Carlies reported that there was a male shot twice the previous night inside the Breukelen Houses. (719 East 103rd Street).
On a better note, traffic collisions were down in 2021, with a total of 34 collisions and one fatality. In 2020, there were seven fatalities. “Canarsiens are doing a great job in keeping accidents down. We’re not getting a lot of 911 or 311 calls about accidents,” Carlies concluded.
The next meeting of the 69th Precinct Community Council will be held on Tuesday, February 22nd at 8 p.m.