The Failure of Stuy Town Security

By now you probably have heard that a Stuyvesant Town female resident was attacked and robbed near the M level of 8 Stuyvesant Oval, Sunday, September 27th. It was only through the vocal responses of neighbors and the woman's own grit to fight her attacker that the incident didn't escalate into something far more tragic. According to Town & Village, the woman was robbed of somewhere between $200-300 and suffered two black eyes and broken capillaries in her eyes.

The attack took place deep into this area, near 8 Oval:



Looks charming in the daylight hours, but at night it can be a foreboding forest for a solitary walker, particularly a woman or a senior citizen.

Stuyvesant Town Security did arrive, once they were alerted, but they never "caught their man" and, despite all the cameras around the complex, were not able to see and stop the attack in progress.

All this was foreseen many, many months ago. When Tishman Speyer's massive tree planting campaign started, residents questioned the practicality of having so many trees all around Stuy Town, when the trees would be an obvious natural cover for potential robbers and rapists. In their arrogance, Tishman Speyer didn't listen and even made the potentially dangerous situation even more perilous by reducing Stuy Town's security staff and relying on newly installed cameras, instead of "boots on the ground," to deal with safety issues.

There have been various other incidents inside Stuyvesant Town--muggings and a rape--and in each instance that I know of, Stuy Town Security has not been able to stop the crime nor apprehend the criminal. That's the serious stuff. If we mention the trivial "quality of life" issues, Security has also been a dismal failure. The dog rules are not being enforced and, despite the extra (and pathetic) effort of putting up green barricades, bicyclists still ride their bikes wherever they choose.

I don't blame Security for not being up to the task of stopping crime and enforcing Stuy Town's rules. I blame Tishman Speyer, which has eviscerated Security and relied on technology that has been proven not to work. I've said this over and over: You need an actual security presence on the ground, walking, to even hope to deter crime and enforce the rules. Driving around the loops or the Oval every hour in vehicles is not going to do it; huddling in front of monitors at the Management Office isn't going to work, either. You have to have foot patrols and have those patrols walk throughout the entire complex, the back ways in particular where rules are continually being broken and crime is awaiting to sprout.

My guess is that Security is just as fed up with Tishman Speyer as are residents. My guess is that, furthermore, they feel Tishman Speyer will not stand up for them if they enforce some of the "petty" rules of this place. (I'm sure all of Security is aware of what happened to one of their own when a confrontation took place between a misbehaving dog owner and a security officer who was just trying to enforce the rules; the security officer was fired.)

Tishman Speyer's destruction of Security is just one step in the process of destroying Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village. And tragic consequences are beginning to arise out of this.