N.Y.P.D. ‘Quality-of-Life’ Teams Are Expanding. Not Everyone Is Happy.

New York|N.Y.P.D. ‘Quality-of-Life’ Teams Are Expanding. Not Everyone Is Happy.

Every New York City borough but Staten Island now has police units called quality-of-life teams, a rapidly expanding program meant to crack down on nuisances like loud music, motorized scooters on sidewalks and double-parked cars.

On Monday, Mayor Eric Adams and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch stood in front of a playground in Astoria, Queens, where they said the teams would now be patrolling the borough.

It was the second announcement in a week about the growth of the teams, which began in April as a pilot program before spreading into every precinct in Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn. And next Monday, the teams will be rolled out in every precinct on Staten Island, the police said.

“If you can’t have an abandoned vehicle in front of Gracie Mansion, you should not have it in front of someone’s home here in Astoria,” Mr. Adams said. “Every New Yorker deserves to live in a neighborhood that is safe from gun violence, has clean streets and is free from illegal activities.”

The program championed by the mayor and commissioner has drawn praise from some City Council members and tenant groups who say the city is addressing low-level offenses that rarely make headlines, but create a sense of chaos and dysfunction. But organizations that represent public defenders and push to protect civil liberties remain wary, fearing the units will target residents of color and send people to jail for minor offenses.

The teams’ expansion will lead “to more unnecessary arrests and prolonged detentions of New Yorkers for low-level violations and misdemeanors,” Meghna Philip, director of the special litigation unit at the Legal Aid Society, said. “This expanded surveillance and criminalization does not increase the safety or well-being of the people and communities we serve.”