By DrLoni, Local Contributor
One love for the positive feedback following my first BKReader post on June 7th. In response to learning of my harassment, one neighbor volunteered herself and her husband to be present with me should the offending contractor ever return, while another chided me for not asking her to walk to the station with me. This is unity in the community in action!
The update on elected officials is that Eric Adam's office, the borough president, finally got back to me. They asked that I put my concerns in writing... again. I complied... again. They have not acknowledged either email. The NYPD Internal Affairs left two messages. Returning the calls I was unable to speak with anyone, or leave a message, due to high call volume. The recording states it is possible to send an email, but fails to give the entire email address.
Someone familiar with the process of attempting to file a complaint against a police officer, told me the case will be dropped. The Office of the Mayor has yet to respond, nor have I heard from Councilman Robert Cornegy or Community Board 3.
Why did this happen? Ladies and gentlemen... contractors prey upon single females. In the world I grew up in I would have called my grandpa. If he did not have a plumber for me to use, he would have called an uncle, and together they would have found someone to help me. Dealing with a broken water heater on my own would not have been possible in the community in which I was raised.
Similarly, a police officer seeing children throwing rocks would say to the kids, "Hey, stop throwing rocks," and they would stop. Back then it was also possible that a police officer living in the city and vested in the community would have channeled the children's need to throw rocks into throwing balls at the Little League that summer.
Also when I was growing up, there were more real men. Many of these men were also police officers who were allowed to say something to help you without the citizen needing to file a report to have someone arrested.
They would let other males know when they were out of bounds when dealing with a female. Instead of participating in the use of the profanity, they were the ones that said, "Hey, watch your language there are women and children present." Sadly, the notion of "appropriate" male behavior in the presence women and children, is now a bygone concept.
The pink elephant in the room is the epidemic of males who violate and disrespect females (especially single & unmarried) because society condones their actions. It is the new normative behavior. While I am not asking my elected officials, or the police to help me deal with the daily violation, exploitation and isolation that is my life as a single woman trying to survive, I must draw the line at my tax dollars paying the salaries of police officers who refuse my request for help.
As a citizen fortunately not accustomed to dealing with the police, it was shocking to learn that the NYPD can only assist a resident if they are willing to turn it into a legal matter for the courts. This is a waste of our tax dollars and adds more stress to an already overburdened system. It is even more shocking that as a threatened female, the only support offered to me was to take out a restraining order, which would have escalated the matter and further endangered my safety.
The larger issue I will pursue with the Mayor's office (whenever they respond) is why our tax dollars are being used to pay police officers, or any civil servant, that are rude, disrespectful, and not doing their job. If police officers are unable to be peacekeepers, then maybe we need less police officers and a new category of civil servants to act as peacekeepers. Unity in the community must be our new demand.
And so it is.
