Providing Service to NYC’s Most Vulnerable Populations

ACS Police Officers at the Horizons Juvenile Facility in the Bronx were visited by Local 237’s Charlie Cotto, Law Enforcement Business Agent (left); Derek Jackson, Director of Law Enforcement, (left, back row) and Frank Rella, Law Enforcement Business Agent (right). The Officers are, left to right: PO Rogers; PO Proctor; Sgt. Redwine; Sgt. Spencer; PO Wong; PO Taite and PO Wingo.
ACS Police Officers at the Horizons Juvenile Facility in the Bronx were visited by Local 237’s Charlie Cotto, Law Enforcement Business Agent (left); Derek Jackson, Director of Law Enforcement, (left, back row) and Frank Rella, Law Enforcement Business Agent (right). The Officers are, left to right: PO Rogers; PO Proctor; Sgt. Redwine; Sgt. Spencer; PO Wong; PO Taite and PO Wingo.

We’ve all read the headlines: “NYC Homeless Would Rather Risk The Streets Than Hellish Shelter System” (Daily News, March 16, 2016); “Stringer Charges ACS Putting Kids At Risk” (The Chief, June 20, 2016); “Orders Less School Discipline” (NY Post, July 21, 2016).We know the stories behind the headlines only too well: 60,042 homeless — including 23,213 homeless children; 55,000 investigations a year of suspected child abuse and neglect by the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS); Over 4,000 youth awaiting court trials are housed in ACS detention centers annually. And the nearly one million children in our public schools.

What is often missing from the stories is their common denominator: Local 237. Peace Officers, who perform a difficult and often dangerous job on behalf of the City’s most at-risk populations.

Bermudez gives words of encouragement to Josiah, a student at PS 188, who, along with his father and two brothers, lives in a homeless shelter on the Lower East Side. (Todd Heisler/The New York Times)
School Safety Agent Betsy Bermudez gives words of encouragement to Josiah, a student at PS 188, who, along with his father and two brothers, lives in a homeless shelter on the Lower East Side. (Todd Heisler/The New York Times)

graduation class of 2016
The graduation class of September 2016 had Charlie Cotto, Law Enforcement Business Agent (left), and Gregory Floyd, President of Teamster Local 237 (center) in addition to family and friends cheering them on at the John Jay College ceremony. These 40 cadets will join the ranks of other DHS Officers who recently graduated in June and July.

With homelessness at a record high, the number of cases of children as victims as well as perpetrators of crime on the rise, and violent crime in public schools spiking, our Department of Homeless Services (DHS) and ACS Officers, in addition to our School Safety Agents, have an increasingly tough job. They must serve and protect the needs of thousands of New Yorkers daily — many of whom are dealing with their own personal challenges and vulnerabilities.

As Local 237 President Gregory Floyd noted: “All of the members of 237 give the title ‘City Employee’ a good name. But working in homeless shelters, centers of juvenile incarceration and public schools can be especially daunting, not only because of the inherent problems of people in those settings, but because the resources and City’s support are lacking.”

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