Village Cops Hone in on Unruly Cyclists

Residents and officers agree that bikes are creating problems in the neighborhood

At a recent meeting at the 6th precinct, the Community Council President Maureen Remecale said that complaints over bicyclists are far and away the most common she hears when meeting with other council presidents across the city.

"We all have problems with bicycles," said Remecale at the council's meeting on Oct. 23. "That's the one we have most in common."

Complaints at the meeting included bicyclists riding on sidewalks, ignoring traffic laws and chaining bikes to private property.

"It's the volume of bicycles in the city and Citi Bike has really added to the calamity," said 6th Precinct Inspector Elisa Cokkinos.

"Truthfully it's just a growing problem, and eventually there will have to be some sort of legislation," said Remecale. "We're also going to lose the bicycle mayor and maybe the next mayor will handle things differently."

One resident present at the meeting floated the idea of having an NYPD division whose sole job it is to give tickets to bicyclists, similar to how parking enforcement is handled in the city. "It should be self-supporting almost, there's so many violations with bicycles," said the resident.

Aside from issues surrounding cyclists, Inspector Cokkinos reported an uptick in burglaries, particularly ones that involve commercial establishments not properly securing entrances to buildings they're located in. "So the porters can go back and forth, they leave the door that attaches the building to the commercial establishment unlocked and then somebody can just open up the door and walk right in and grab a laptop or whatever is handy at the time," said Cokkinos. She urged representatives from commercial establishments who were present at the meeting to make sure their employees properly lock doors when coming and going.

Cokkinos also reported that the 6th Precinct is up over a thousand summonses - mainly having to do with quality of life issues - over the same period last year. "The guys and girls are out there, they're working very hard to increase the quality of life here and keep the bad guys at bay," said Cokkinos. "I'm quite pleased with the direction we're going crime-wise and quality of life-wise."