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As reports circulated of another change in leadership, the NYPD’s interim commissioner contended of crime: “We’ve always taken it serious,” during his first trip to the notorious “Market of Sweethearts.”

Running along Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights, Queens, the brazen criminal element of foreign nationals, fostered by the Big Apple’s sanctuary city policies, thrives via illegal vending and prostitution.

Over the weekend, interim NYPD Commissioner Tom Donlon made a show of addressing the problem alongside NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry and Assistant Chief Christine Bastedenbeck while addressing officers at the start of their tour.

“We’ve always taken it serious, but we’re gonna kick up to another level,” said Donlon in a video posted online of the trip through the area. “I’m out here for the first time, but I want to come out here again.”

“You know, once a week, twice a week, because this is very, very important, and the public wants to see how we’re addressing this,” he went on.

“What goes on on Roosevelt Avenue is a lot of different conditions here. If you take a look around, you’ll see that we have folks that are vending on the corner, you’ll see women that are scantily clad on the street, offering services or massages,” said Bastedenbeck. “So we do have a lot of prostitution that goes on here. It is a team effort that we use here with our patrol officers, our vice officers — a really big collaboration to address the issues that are [on]going.”

Prior to the showy presence of the NYPD in the neighborhood represented by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D), local leaders called on New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) to dispatch New York State Troopers to the area to tamp down on what they described as an “Urban Crime Zone.”

“It’s clear that Roosevelt Avenue is currently under the control of various organized crime entities, drug rings, human traffickers, pimps, prostitutes, and shoplifting syndicates,” stated the letter. “Most of our local elected officials want to legalize prostitution. Some have voted to ‘defund the police’. Others want to allow more unlicensed street vendors to operate even though we are already being overwhelmed by the tons of garbage they generate. Our streets are filthy. Our community can wait no longer. Our quality of life has been eviscerated. We need New York State to intervene.”

Meanwhile, according to a report from NewsNation, in addition to considering Donlon for the position of NYPD Commissioner, scandal-ridden NYC Mayor Eric Adams (D) was also considering NYPD First Deputy Commissioner Benjamin Tucker and NYC Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

As Adams has pled not guilty to federal charges that include alleged conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bribery, other members of his administration have faced their own scrutiny and charges as federal investigators expand their probe. This includes a raid on the home of Donlon, himself a former FBI official, shortly after he took over for former NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban who resigned due to his own federal corruption investigation.

In a Sept. 21 statement on the raid, Donlon said, “They took materials that came into my possession approximately 20 years ago and are unrelated to my work with the New York City Police Department.”

Kevin Haggerty
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