Peace officers trained by the NYPD have been assigned at the Jerome Avenue Men’s Shelter (JAMS), but it’s unclear whether it has made a difference since city data provided shows an overall decline of crime around shelters in the Bronx.

Previously, the 200-bed men’s shelter for the mentally ill had contracted a security team of eight guards from a private company to ensure safety at the facility.  The new peace officers from the New York City Department of Homeless Services (DHS) are overseen by NYPD and are considered better trained to deal with security issues including arrest procedures and restraining techniques.

Earlier in the year CB7 was looking into the addition of DHS peace officers and asked the 52nd Precinct for data on incidents at the shelter before making a decision on the implementation of the better-trained peace officers.

The Norwood News recently requested the same data from DOH and received a written response explaining that the precinct only reports precinct-wide data and is not specific to any one facility.

But the data shared does reveal certain trends within the 52nd Precinct. For example, arrests at DHS facilities within the command are decreasing.  In the first three quarters of 2018 there were 10 arrests but only six for the same time frame in 2019.

DHS also points out that citywide arrests at shelters by NYPD are down 17 percent in the first half of 2019, compared with same period last year, with the majority of arrests comprised of misdemeanor offenses.

Meantime, CB7 is worried over a petition by Care for the Homeless, the healthcare service provider for the shelter, for an Article 28 designation that would allow it to serve people from outside the shelter.

CB7’s district manager, Ischia Bravo, says that the board is in favor of a clinic to serve the residents of the shelter but questions the need to take in non-residents when there is Montefiore Health System’s Moses Campus and North Central Bronx Hospital nearby.

“We are sensitive to the needs of New York’s most vulnerable population, but we have questions and need to see some data on why it makes sense to set up a clinic open to all when there’re two big hospitals so close,” Bravo said.

Bravo added that the full board will vote on Nov. 26 on whether to support the measure for the Article 28 clinic.