In August I participated in the Night Out Against Crime events at Fulton Houses in Chelsea and in Hell’s Kitchen Park, where neighbors, community groups and people in law enforcement gather to support crime prevention efforts and celebrate the strength and diversity of neighborhoods.
In Chelsea, I talked with volunteers with the Fulton Houses Tenants Association, the local Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), and other neighborhood organizations, and greeted the new Commanding Officer of the 10th Precinct, Deputy Inspector Michele Irizarry. I’m glad she is continuing the Precinct’s “Cop of the Month” program.
In Hell’s Kitchen, I caught up with volunteers for community-based organizations like the Ryan Chelsea/Clinton Health Center, thanked officers with the Midtown North Precinct for working to keep our neighborhoods safe, and spoke with officials from the Midtown Community Court about its important work, which has become a model for similar institutions around the nation and even the world.
I was particularly gratified to learn that the Court often uses a law I recently wrote. If a person is convicted of prostitution, and had been forced into prostitution by human trafficking, the law allows the person to have his or her criminal record erased. It enables the human trafficking victim to move ahead in life without the burden of a criminal prostitution record. It’s an important tool for our Midtown Community Court.

With the Ryan Community Health Network table at the Night Out Against Crime event in Hell’s Kitchen Park on August 5, 2014.