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Roosevelt Island Public Safety Department
Phone (212) 832-4545
The following is a rundown of
staff and specific duties they perform as
mandated by the law, along with those
responsibilities that enhance the “quality of
life” on the Island.
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Staffing and Patrols
The
Public Safety Department works round-the-clock,
on 8-hour shifts, some overlapping to provide
extra coverage as needed. Every shift is
staffed by 4-12 officers, including one or two
sergeants and a Lieutenant, as needed. The
officers are assigned to patrol specific areas
of the Island.
Each
shift includes:
A Desk Officer at
headquarters who receives and refers telephone
calls. These calls can range from reports
of criminal activity to medical emergencies. All
emergency calls are automatically relayed to the
114th Precinct, the Fire Department or
EMS through the 911 system; at the same time Public Safety Officers are
immediately dispatched to the scene.
Officers patrol around the
bridge and Motorgate lobby, the subway station
and the tram area, (The station interior is
under the jurisdiction of the NYC Police Dept.)
Remaining officers conduct an
average of 10 patrols per shift, including
patrol of all public areas and vertical patrols
of Roosevelt Landings, Island House, Westview and
Rivercross according to contracts with building
owners. There are close to 50 routes within
these buildings that receive regular attention,
and while Public Safety Officers are not
authorized to patrol inside the Manhattan Park,
Octagon and Riverwalk
complexes, they do patrol the exterior and respond
to any emergencies inside the buildings.
Officers assigned to patrol
public areas, pay close attention to the
storefronts on Main Street, Motorgate, and the
exterior areas of all the residential
buildings. Each shift also includes traffic
enforcement and checking the parks, the tram,
the fence at Southpoint, and the seawall
areas. A fleet of bicycles and
segways, allow officers to
cover more ground more frequently. |
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Traffic and
Public Areas
In establishing RIOC, the State Legislature
gave the agency specific authority to
“prescribe rules and regulations governing
the operating or stopping of vehicles on
Roosevelt Island.” (Ch.899, Laws of 1984,
sec.13)
Roosevelt Island has
some of the strictest traffic regulations of any
New York community, chiefly due to its physical
layout. The Island’s single roadway must be
kept clear at all times for emergency access,
particularly to the hospitals at the north and
south ends of the Island. Traffic enforcement
on Main Street protects pedestrians, keeps
traffic flowing and the street open for
emergency vehicles. Still, RIOC buses, Transit
Authority buses, vans for the disabled, and some
5,000 cars manage to share Main Street each day.
Ticketing
Authority
Public Safety
officers have the same authority as the New York
City Police Department or the enforcement agents
of the Department of Transportation’s Parking
Violations Bureau (PVB) to issue summonses for
parking violations and moving violations.
The summonses are
issued in accordance with the New York State and
City law, and responses should be submitted to
the appropriate authority, be it the PVB or the
State Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV), with
fines collectible by those offices. As in
other parts of the City, appeals must be made
through the appropriate agency, PVB or DMV, not
through RIOC or the Public Safety Department.
Towing
Illegally parked
cars that have been ticketed are subject to
towing by V.I.P. Towing, a Long Island City -
based firm under contract to RIOC. Once a
vehicle is towed, its owner must pay the towing
company charges (about $100), plus any storage
fees as well as the summons fine. These
charges are collectible by the tow company and
the PVB respectively. |
Youth
There is a
strong focus on youth at Public Safety.
Because the youth population here is
relatively small (Roosevelt Island has about
2500 young people between the ages of 1 and 17), many
of the Public Safety Department’s officers
are familiar with individual Island
youths. Often we get to know them because
they drop in at headquarters and ask for
help in sealing a leaking bicycle tire or
basketball,
to register bicycles or other needs they may
have.
The PSD also is
involved in many interactive programs for
young people, such as the Island’s Youth
Center -- where RIOC funds two full-time
employees -- and programs at the 114th
Precinct, which has a Community Policing
Officer assigned to Roosevelt Island and
other areas.
When young
people get into trouble, Public Safety does
its best to handle each situation
professionally and sensitively. Officers,
however, must rigorously follow clearly
defined procedures issued by various
criminal justice agencies.
Minor
violations, such as bikes on sidewalks and
disturbing the peace, are handled on a
case-by-case basis. Our policy is to handle
these situations by encouraging the youth to
cease the activity and respect others on the
Island. But repeated offenses may result in
a juvenile report for children under 16. A
person 16 and over is considered an adult,
and will be subject to adult procedures.
The policy of the Department is to contact
parents whenever a youth is taken into
custody.
In the case of a
misdemeanor or felony arrest of children
under 16, the Police Department must be
contacted. Of course, children who
break the law have the same constitutional
rights as adults. When a youth
is brought in for a misdemeanor or felony
charge, his or her parents must be notified,
and both the juvenile and the parent or
guardian will be given Miranda Warnings, the
rights read to an individual upon arrest.
The youth can be
questioned, with parents or guardian
present, in the specially-designated
Youth Office at the Public
Safety Headquarters.
Misdemeanors,
including reckless endangerment, vandalism
and graffiti, committed by youths under 16
may result in a New York Police Department
Juvenile Report (PD377-151). Once the
report is filed, we will notify the parents
with a letter, which will include the name
and telephone number of the Youth Officer at
the 114th Precinct who is assigned to the
case. These records are destroyed once the
youth reaches age 16.
In felony cases,
such as assault, robbery and other serious
crimes, we will either notify the Police
Department to make an arrest, or, if the
arrest is made by our officers, will follow
the youth arrest procedures as detailed by
the Criminal Justice Bureau and Family Court.
All procedures
and correspondence concerning juveniles are
strictly confidential, in accordance with
Section 381.3 of the Family Court Act.
Crisis
Intervention
If you need to
report a crime or need assistance, you may
call Public Safety at 212-832-4545. Also,
the New York City Police Department has
installed a few solar-powered yellow
emergency call boxes on poles around the
Island for immediate communication with
NYPD. For life-threatening fire, police or
ambulance emergency assistance, call 911.
Responding to
emergency calls is an important part of
Public Safety’s duties. When an emergency
call comes in, we will immediately contact
911, then dispatch Public Safety Officers
to respond. But because we can get to the
scene immediately, our officers often handle
incidents ranging from verbal disputes to
physical assaults. All officers have
training in recognizing and dealing with
domestic disputes and violence. When the
law is broken, we are obliged to make a
report to the NYC Police Department; they in
turn, may
take action.
Another type of
emergency call we frequently encounter involves
the elderly and disabled. Public Safety
officers are often called upon to render
assistance to people who have fallen in their
apartments or have other medical problems, and
when necessary direct those with special needs
to appropriate agencies. In a voluntary
program, residents may post a list of their
particular medical requirements inside their
apartment doors so that officers responding to
emergency calls will be properly informed of
those special needs.
The Department also
maintains a “Senior Citizen & Handicapped
Medical Emergency Log Roster” which includes
pertinent medical data regarding the seniors and
a list of disabled residents supplied by the
Roosevelt Island housing management offices.
Emergency
Response
As mentioned
earlier, Roosevelt Island is served by Police,
Fire and EMS services which are based in
Queens. Access to the Island is by bridge at
36th Avenue and Vernon Boulevard.
Should there be a
scheduled interruption in bridge service -- for
repairs or in the rare cases when it is raised
for river traffic -- a fire truck, a police
vehicle and an ambulance are dispatched to the
Island where they are on call in case of any
emergency. Public Safety also has a procedure
in place to bring firefighters and police
officers to the Island via tram, subway and RIOC
vehicles to ensure rapid response. And, Public
Safety regularly schedules drills with the NYC
Fire and Police Departments on emergency Tram
procedures.
Public
Outreach
Along with law
enforcement, the Public Safety Department
actively supports community groups and
participates in their events. The Department
regularly helps with parades, special
celebrations, road races and all other special
events that take place on the Island. Along
with other community groups, the Public Safety
Department is at the fore front of sponsoring
Community Outreach summits and meetings. At these
forums the community is informed about personal
safety, security and other concerns. The
forums also present an excellent opportunity for
the Public Safety Department to keep abreast of
community needs while forging a closer working
relationship with the local precinct by sharing
important information.
Our door is always
open at the Public Safety Department
Headquarters, located at 550 Main Street (the
Roosevelt Landings apartment complex). You may call us at
832-4545 or come in person anytime.
"Together we can
make a difference." |
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2010 - Roosevelt
Island Operating Corporation.