By: Serach Nissim
Dog lovers and local citizens are banding together to patrol the area, following the Prospect Park attack on a lady and her pooch.
As reported by the NY Post, a Guardian-Angel style group is being formed in the Prospect Park vicinity of Brooklyn. The newly formed group, named the “Park Slope Panthers” aims to “take the neighborhood back”. “In light of people feeling unsafe to use Prospect Park due to recent attacks of both people and dogs, in one case resulting in the death of a dog; and in light of the epidemic of packages being stolen from stoops and lobbies, we want to form a neighborhood watch,” reads a description for the group posted on MeetUp. “The goal is to be eyes and ears and to take our neighborhood back.”
The group’s initial meeting has been scheduled for Sept. 10, and over a dozen people have already committed to attend. The idea for the group was started by Kristian Nammack, 59, a Park Slope resident and Quaker who first came up with the notion two weeks after Jessica Chrustic and her 2-and-a-half-year-old golden retriever mix, named Moose, were attacked.
As per the Post, Chrustic said the attacker is a homeless nomad who lives near a dumpster in the parking lot near the park’s picnic house. She says he initiated an unprovoked attack on her and her dog, which died of its injuries. She said that police have repeatedly refused to remove him, though she has provided them with pictures of him holding a stick. There have been no arrests in Moose’s case. “Since the incident the NYPD has continuously taken investigative measures to bring the individual responsible to justice. The NYPD has conducted canvasses of the park with witnesses and increased patrols in the area,” an NYPD spokesman commented.
Nammack said the new group could model itself to follow the Guardian Angels — the beret-wearing civilian patrol group founded by Curtis Sliwa in NYC in 1979 amid soaring crime rates. “We may also get to wear cool berets. I’m being serious. And we go through some self-defense training, work in pairs, etc,” Nammack wrote on the Nextdoor app. He’s working on making a group logo and T-shirts, he added.
Nammack said the group details haven’t been ironed out yet and all ideas will be considered. “I was speaking with a few neighbors and we talked about starting a neighborhood watch. We are currently researching what that means, what is effective, how to involve the local infrastructure — law enforcement, local politicians, PTA groups, Citibike, Uber Eats, etc,” he said. Nammack added that he has contacted the National Neighborhood Watch, a division of the National Sheriffs’ Association, for guidance on best practices. “I do not intend this to be a rogue group and definitely not vigilante,” he stressed.
Asked for comment, Sliwa, who is also an active animal lover, replied that he would be ready to help, and added words of encouragement. “I applaud them. In fact more people around the city have got to be doing things similar to this,” Sliwa said. “They need to be saluted. They’re not just sitting back waiting for the police or government to deal with it. They are being proactive and working within the law.”
Crime in the 78th Precinct is up 38 percent on average for this year through Aug. 21, in comparison with last year, as per NYPD data.