(
)
A South Bronx landlord had nothing but praise yesterday for an NYPD “stop-and-frisk” program that’s under fire from civil-liberties groups.
Consolato “Joe” Cicciu testified the low-income buildings owned by his nonprofit used to be plagued by large groups of young men who blocked the entrances by gathering on the steps and in the vestibules.
Other problems included pools of urine, broken mailboxes and open-air pot smoking, he said.
But Cicciu, executive director of the Belmont Arthur Avenue Local Development Corp., said the mess had been cleaned up since he enrolled the group’s 70 properties in “Operation Clean Halls.”
The voluntary program lets cops patrol privately owned buildings to crack down on drug dealing and other crimes.
”Do you think it’s been effective?” Manhattan federal Judge Shira Scheindlin asked Cicciu, who appeared as a defense witness for the city. “Absolutely,” he responded.
Cicciu also said he hadn’t gotten any complaints from tenants about being stopped by cops on patrol.
“I have not heard from any tenants in any of the 1,883 units — no one,” he said. In fact, Cicciu said, the only complaint he’s heard is, “Why don’t they come more often?”
He also said the NYPD offered a service that couldn’t be obtained anywhere else.
“Anybody can fix a roof and a lock — the social condition of a building requires a certain amount of sensitivity,” he noted.
A pending suit, spearheaded by the New York Civil Liberties Union, alleges that “overzealous” cops have been making life miserable for minority residents of “Clean Halls” buildings by subjecting them to stops — and even arrests — when they run errands or visit neighbors.
As part of the case, the plaintiffs are currently seeking an injunction that would bar cops from stopping people outside Clean Halls buildings on suspicion of trespassing.
Another witness called by the city yesterday was Anginette Trinidad, who was arrested along with one of the plaintiffs, Abdullah Turner, outside a Clean Halls building in March 2011.
Trinidad said she and Turner were on their way to an engagement party when she left him outside the building while she ran inside to return a sweater at a friend’s apartment.
But Trinidad said she invoked the Fifth Amendment when she was asked during a deposition if she had also gone inside to buy pot.
And while the trespassing charge against Turner was ultimately dismissed, Trinidad said her case ended in a guilty plea to disorderly conduct.
When asked what she had been charged with, Trinidad said she didn’t know but admitted taking the Fifth during her deposition when asked if she was busted for possessing pot.
Also testifying yesterday for the city was rookie Bronx prosecutor David Grigoryan, who said he’s handled “many” trespassing cases since being hired a year ago.
But Grigoryan said he has dismissed only one, which involved a mentally ill man who failed to tell cops he was staying with his sister when he was arrested for trespassing.
Bronx DA’s Office bureau chief Jeannette Rucker testified earlier that she believed cops have been making illegal trespassing arrests, leading many cases to get thrown out of court.
The Bronx DA’s Office recently adopted a controversial policy of requiring interviews with arresting officers before prosecuting trespassing cases.