By Rebecca White and John Annese
New York Every day Information
NEW YORK — Town is planning to place panic buttons linked to the NYPD in about 500 bodegas throughout the 5 boroughs, the mayor and police commissioner introduced Sunday.
Mayor Adams and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch mentioned the town will allocate $1.6 million via an emergency grant to the United Bodegas of America, as a part of the town finances, to equip the bodegas with “Silent Protect” buttons that might hyperlink cameras within the meals shops to the Police Division in actual time.
The transfer comes after a string of current killings in metropolis bodegas, together with a fatal stabbing in Harlem early Saturday, and two slayings in a 48-hour interval final month — one on the Ameer Deli & Grill in Inwood, the place a 24-year-old man was fatally knifed throughout a brawl, and the second exterior the Shak Deli in Williamsbridge, the Bronx, the place Sorai King, 20, was fatally shot.
“Bodegas are a part of the guts and soul of New York Metropolis. They’re on each nook; they’re there for us in any respect hours, Adams mentioned Sunday. “This program will deliver peace of thoughts to our bodega homeowners. … We’re telling these small companies: Your metropolis has your again.”
United Bodegas of America spokesman Fernando Mateo known as the alarms a “sport changer.” His group has lengthy requested metropolis and state officers to fund buttons in all 25,000 of the town’s bodegas.
Alex Mike, the supervisor on the Connoisseur Deli on 51st St. at Eighth Ave. , informed the Every day Information on Sunday {that a} panic button could be a boon, and that he’s been in conditions the place he’s wanted to quietly summon the cops to his 24-hour retailer.
“Many occasions. Stealing. Shoplifting. A theft, too. We bought robbed at night time,” he mentioned. “We simply allow them to take no matter they need. It’s not price it.”
Yousef Ali, 21, a cashier and supervisor at Taste Style at Seventh Ave. and 56th St. , mentioned his father has a panic button at his retailer upstate.
“It’s secure. Stunning. Sooner,” he mentioned. “You don’t have to seek out your telephone to name.”
Based on the mayor’s workplace, United Bodegas of America will solicit aggressive bids for the tech, and plans to start out putting in the buttons over the following a number of months.
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