Outraged Animal Activists Demand Justice at 100th Pct Community Council Meeting
By Kami-Leigh Agard
With tempers flaring, outraged animal activists rolled in deep to the 100th Precinct Community Council monthly meeting held last Wednesday, February 26, at the Knights of Columbus. The tension in the room got so thick, you could cut it with a knife, escalating with Council President Kathy Heavey repeatedly having to shout over the cacophony of voices, demanding that attendees wait their turn to talk. She said, “I know we have a large crowd in the room tonight, and I think some people were expecting this to be strictly pertaining to animal cruelty. This is our general meeting, in which we will be discussing issues that concern the 100th Precinct from Breezy Point to Beach 59th Street. We have a limited amount of time and will not be going back and forth all night. And again, just so all are informed, this is not an a strictly animal cruelty evening.” That said, 90% of the almost two-hour meeting was commandeered by irate animal lovers, many sounding off their frustration, decrying the NYPD Animal Cruelty Division as being all bark, no bite, in dealing with the inhumane animal abuse incidents happening on the peninsula.
First on the agenda were announcements from the elected officials.
Jose Reina from Congressman Gregory Meeks’ office reported the following: Starting May 7, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is enforcing REAL ID requirements. He said, “What this means is that in order to board a domestic air flight or access a federal facility or military base, you would need to show proof of being REAL ID compliant by carrying a REAL ID, a passport, a passport card or an enhanced driver’s license. Once you have all the necessary documents, then you can move on to the next step and schedule an appointment at your local DMV to apply for a REAL ID.”
Next up was Carl Brown, representing the office of Senator James Sanders Jr. He shared that the deadline for 501(c)3 nonprofits applying for NYS Senate Capital Funding and Discrepancy Funding is April 1. Also, Sanders is co-sponsor of NYS Senate Bill S2710, which aims to restore the 20-year service retirement requirement for NYC police officers. Next, Brown announced Sanders’ office is accepting nominations for the Youth Leadership Recognition Award. Lastly, for Women’s History Month, the senator is recognizing women in the construction industry. For more info, call: (718) 523-3069.
Dan Brown of Queens DA Melinda Katz’s office shared, “2024 was a busy year. Our office processed 52,653 arrests, 43,255 criminal court arraignments and grand jurors handed up 1,807 indictments. Our Crime Victims Advocate Program assisted 4,533 people and the office disposed of 43,116 cases. Our ongoing operation targeting motorized scooters that are illegally parked, unregistered and/or uninsured resulted in the confiscation of 1,029 scooters. Our gun buyback initiative that we held last year took 76 working firearms off the streets in total. Since taking office five years ago, Queen DA Melinda Katz’s gun buybacks have resulted in 543 firearms surrendered. A total of 42% of all ghost guns seized citywide were recovered in Queens, which led the city for the fourth consecutive year. The number of shootings in Queens declined by 10%.”
Jeanette Marie Garramone, constituent liaison at Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato’s office gave some legislative updates. The following NYS assembly bills were signed by Governor Kathy Hochul this past February: Bill A1470 expands the Veterans Tuition Assistance Program, which now includes Vietnam, Persian Gulf and Afghanistan veterans, and pays up to 98% of college tuition at any SUNY. Also, starting in 2026, bill A2443 establishes a maximum annual copayment of $100 for EpiPen users. The assemblywoman is hosting a Free Paint Recycling Program as part of the NYS Post-Consumer Paint Collection, in which residents can recycle their paint. Mazzone Hardware, located 245 Beach 116th Street, is a drop-off location. Also, the assemblywoman is accepting nominations for her office’s 2025 “Woman of Distinction” awards. To submit a nomination and for more info, email: greenbergj@nyassembly.gov
Community Board 14 District Manager Felicia Johnson then read a letter that was submitted from the board to the 100th and 101st Precincts, the NYPD Animal Cruelty Division, the Queens DA Office, Queens South Command, and elected officials with regard to increasing the training of officers in the prevention, detection, and identification of individuals involved in criminal acts of animal cruelty. In the letter, CB 14 requested “that the animal cruelty division of the NYPD make their presence known to this community and initiate an effort to work with the police officers in both the 100th and 101st precincts to develop a plan of action in an effort to identify the individual or individuals or groups engaging in this heinous acts… While the 100 precinct has made great strides in acknowledging and containing known dog fighting rings in our dog park, located on Beach 90th Street and Shore Front Parkway, dog fighting rings remain another animal cruelty-specific concern in the Rockaways that we are looking for the Animal Cruelty Division to address.”
Next, Jeannette Mullholland, Breezy Point branch manager of Ridgewood Savings Bank, offered tips to protect against fraud. She kicked it off with an alarming statistic. According to the Federal Trade Commission, in 2023, $10 billion was succumbed to fraud. In 2024, there was an increase of 14%. One scam Mullholland warned about was mailbox fishing. She said, “We see a lot of that in the Rockaways, especially the mailbox outside the post office. I advise people to go inside the post office. From January to June last year, we received several complaints about checks taken from that mailbox. One way to avoid that is to use a gel pen when writing checks. This helps deter from the washing of your checks. What scammers will do is keep the amount but change who the check is made payable to. So, if you look at your account, you’re going to think the money went to the right person, but it in fact, did not. Online banking really is the way to go. Get the text alerts on your phone. Check your statements every month because you only have 60 days to report fraud.”
She also warned about using a debit card at for example, a gas station. “The gas station on Beach 116th Street is a recent one that was hit. When inserting your debit card, pull at it, touch it, make sure there’s nothing sticky on it. It’s better to pay by just tapping against the sensor,” Mullholland said.
Also, she cautioned about scammers that spoof a bank’s phone number. “I actually had to put an alert out to our customers in Breezy. The scammers used our bank’s phone number to put a text alert out to all our customers stating: ‘Did you do this transaction using our phone number?’ As soon as I found out about it, I put an alert out on our Facebook page warning customers. They also use AI to copy your voice. When you answer your phone and they hear your voice, they copy it and call another family member. So, anything that doesn’t seem right, immediately hang up the phone,” she warned.
On the policing front, Deputy Inspector Carol Hamilton shared that the major crime index is down 54% compared to this point in 2024. NYPD Transit District 23 shared that as a result of placing two officers on each train every night, for twenty-eight days in a row, there was zero crime, but an uptick in arrests, especially at the Howard Beach hub.
On the traffic front, the 100th Precinct reported on initiatives they’ve implemented since the horrific accident that occurred on Wednesday, February 19, in which an elderly woman was struck by a car at the intersection of Beach 73rd and Rockaway Beach Blvd. The captain said, “After the incident, we immediately established a 72-hour hour plan with multiple checkpoints within the week, resulting in approximately four summonses. Also, Neighborhood Community Officers (NCO) Sector Adams did an additional 11 summonses,” he said.
It was reported that since the accident, the Department of Transportation (DOT) was contacted on how to make the intersection safer. An option discussed was implementing a “No Left Turn.” On Thursday, March 13 at 7 p.m., CB 14 will be hosting a transportation committee meeting with the DOT at the Rockaway YMCA to address that intersection and other traffic issues.
Next Councilwoman Joann Ariola was on deck to discuss the elephant in the room—rampant animal cruelty and abuse happening in and around the peninsula.
An attendee asked the councilwoman, “When I look at the animal cruelty complaints and arrests from July 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024, and I look up the 100th Precinct, it says there were only two complaints and one arrest. I can tell you this is a hundred percent false because I’ve called multiple times. So, when you compare the falsity of the animal cruelty complaint stats, obviously these complaints are not being made a priority. And why do officers not receive animal cruelty training? How can you help change this?”
The councilwoman said, “We had a Zoom meeting with the NYPD Animal Cruelty Division, the ASPCA, the local precincts and residents. We spoke about educating our new police recruits at the academy. We spoke about having an animal cruelty liaison at each precinct. We spoke about the fact that the laws need to be changed. Right now, the sentence for an animal abuser is two years. They serve their time, come out the next day and abuse an animal again. And we have to change the fact that the laws oftentimes don’t allow for there to be enough time for that person to be arrested. We’re working on that. Also, we’re working on animal abuse complaints be added to 311.”
Lieutenant Ashby, commanding officer of the NYPD Animal Cruelty Investigation Squad, said, “We’ve made multiple arrests. Just because it’s not in the paper doesn’t mean we’re not doing it. We are working with the U.S. District Attorney’s office, NYS Wildlife Authority, the Federal Parks Police and other adjoining agencies.
“What people don’t understand is animals, under the law, are considered property. They are looked at like your car or cell phone. So, when we talk about someone beating a dog, I can’t just take their dog, right? If someone breaks their car window, I can’t just take their car as evidence. I would need your permission to take it. So, when I get a phone call saying this person kicked their dog. I can’t just go to that owner and take their dog. I have to get a warrant. I need some evidence to prove a crime occurred. It’s hard for me to go to a judge and say, ‘Hey, this person kicked the dog and hurt the dog.’ Animals do not speak, right? Our cases are circumstantial evidence, which are harder to prosecute. We have to go on what we can prove.”
Photo by Paul King.
