A notoriously violent stretch of Brooklyn is trying to fight crime — by asking uniformed police officers to stay away.
A two-block section of Brownsville in the NYPD’s 73rd Precinct was converted last week into a “police-free zone” as part of a city-funded project known as the Brownsville Safety Alliance (BSA). The initiative, which began under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, was initially held twice a year but has expanded to four times annually, The New York Post reported.
The program has drawn praise from anti-police activists and from socialist Assemblyman and mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani. “He believes in what we do,” said Dushoun Almond, program director of Brownsville In Violence Out, the community group leading the effort.
Almond said Mamdani even visited one of the zones when it operated last April.
Under the plan, police remain on standby but are told to allow the community group to handle lower-level incidents such as disputes or minor disturbances. The operation ran daily from noon to 6 p.m. between Sutter and Pitkin avenues from Oct. 7 through Oct. 11.
Community members can still call police for serious crimes, including shootings or stabbings, but the group takes over for everything else. “They’re not gone, but they give us our room to control the block,” Almond said. “There’s a BSA every three months.”
An NYPD spokesperson said nothing has changed about police operations in the area. “Nothing has changed about our operations or deployment there,” the department said.
But a police source expressed concern about the experiment, warning it “has the potential to go sideways quickly.”
“This is the way that this new guy [Mamdani] wants us to go. [The brass] are trying to appeal to him. It’s insane,” the source said.
The initiative includes roughly 20 members of Brownsville In Violence Out who patrol the streets, responding to 911 calls involving minor issues such as public drinking or arguments. A plainclothes NYPD “BSA sergeant” shadows the group in case situations escalate, while other officers are posted at the edges of the two-block stretch.
A flyer that appeared in the area — later shared on social media — claimed uniformed officers were banned from entering the zone. “No on-duty [uniformed members of service] are to enter this area unless responding to an extreme police emergency (e.g. person shot, stabbed, etc.),” it read. “This event is being monitored at the Police Commissioner level.”
The NYPD said the flyer was unauthorized and had been removed. “That was an unauthorized sign that was posted, and the signs have been removed,” a department spokesperson said.
While some residents praised the idea, others expressed doubt that community patrols could replace the police. A 57-year-old hardware store worker named Jose told The Post the groups “do a better job because they talk — ‘Yo, what’s going on?’ ‘What’s the problem?’ ‘Why are you doing this?’ People listen.”
But others, like Cricket Wireless employee Jamixa Alvarez, said the area still needs police. “In 2025, being a cop isn’t the easiest job,” she said. “But right now we need our cops.”
The most recent BSA ended quietly, except for one fight among teens wielding pipes and scooters.
Meanwhile, major crime in Brownsville remains on the rise. Robbery is up 23%, felony assault 26%, burglary 40%, and grand larceny 30% this year compared to 2024, according to NYPD data.
“Historically, this is one of the most dangerous parts of New York City,” said John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor and former NYPD supervisor Christopher Hermann. “I’m not sure how designating this as a police-free zone will make residents feel — or actually be — safer.”
Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa called the program “a reckless experiment that invites chaos.”
“Community groups can and should partner with the NYPD,” Sliwa said. “But sidelining cops in a high-crime area is exactly the backwards approach Zohran Mamdani is cheering on — and I’ll end it on Day One.”