Residents are “generally satisfied” with the Island’s Public Safety Department (PSD), according to the summary conclusions in a report issued this week.  The report, based on a survey done for a committee of the RIOC Board of Directors, was issued without underlying data or tallies.

It was also issued unilaterally, according to RIRA Common Council member Ron Schuppert, by Dr. Joan Dawson, the chair of a joint RIOC-resident committee that prepared the survey.  “I object to this being put out under my name,“ Schuppert said.  “It doesn’t reflect the [views of] the committee.  It’s skewed.”

The WIRE has requested the underlying data for direct analysis.

The survey was designed with the cooperation of the Island’s housing managers to measure Islanders’ perceptions about Public Safety, then distributed to residents.  The return rate was reportedly under 20% at the highest, in Rivercross, but only half that in other buildings.

The exception to the reported rating of “general satisfaction“ was Rivercross, where 75 percent of those completing the survey expressed “serious or somewhat serious concern“ about the quality of Public Safety and said they felt it would “continue to get worse.”

The Dawson summary contains additional conclusions, based on the survey, about public perception of Public Safety performance:

• A concern over loitering, drugs, loud music, and noise, identified by all buildings.
• A sense that marijuana is the major drug activity.  (The report contains an observation that PSD is virtually helpless to deal with marijuana activity because the law is so lenient.)
• A general feeling that PSD needs more support “or that there is a lack of knowledge about the status and effectiveness” of PSD.
• A perception that officers will need more training as the Island is developed further.
• A desire for more patrols within buildings, known as “vertical patrols.“  The report observes that some buildings are more attractive as places to “hang out” than others, and that this leads to resident concern about safety.
• A concern about traffic at the ramp.  The report briefly discusses a concern that Roosevelt Island might appear to be a “gated community” if an officer is stationed at the ramp, and points out that doing so would remove the officer from patrol duty elsewhere.
• A general concern about parental control of Island children.

The report concludes with a series of recommendations ranging from meeting with NYPD to seek additional police presence on the Island to one that PSD and the Youth Program find a way to deal with the marijuana problem.