Tough policing tackles NY violence

By Sima Kotecha
Newsbeat US reporter

Knife crime and plans to tackle the problem have dominated the headlines in the UK over the past couple of days, but how do other countries cope with a serious crime problem?

Newsbeat went to New York City and spoke to people in the Bronx area about how a tough police approach has helped cut violent crime in their neighbourhoods.

Tall concrete apartment blocks line the streets. Small shops with bright neon signs sit in between. Crime here is a part of everyday life. Robberies and shootings are common.

Passers-by told Newsbeat that after 10pm each night, drug dealers stand on the corner of the blocks waiting for their regular customers.

It's a different world compared to Manhattan, where everything seems much safer and more crowded.

I've been shot, stabbed, and hit with baseball bats for nothing but just for fun Mike Taneli

Someone who's experienced the crime first-hand here is 34-year-old Mike Taneli. He's lived in the South Bronx for his whole life and is popular with all the locals.

As he walks down the street, people wave and say hi.

"I've been shot, stabbed, and hit with baseball bats for nothing but just for fun. People are bored or don't have enough money to buy their fix, so they do crimes like steal radios from cars or shoot each other."

But he's still not afraid to walk around in the middle of the night.

He says it's his home and crime has always been a part of the Bronx.

"It's normal. It's an everyday thing. 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It wouldn't be the Bronx if there were no shootings."

Police clampdown

But eight years ago, police say it was a lot worse. So the NYPD came up with a new strategy to tackle crime in areas like the South Bronx - where it had got out of hand.

Operation Impact has cut violent crime in schools and the subway

They named it Operation Impact and it involved swamping places like these with senior police and new recruits.

All this resulted in lots more patrols and clamping down on even the smallest crimes.

The scheme continues today and last December, New York mayor, Michael Bloomberg, authorised even more police to be distributed to dangerous areas across the state.

He also announced that crime in almost every major category had continued to drop, with violence down in schools and on the subways.

Suzi Guiterez is thrilled with how the police have changed things.

He said: "It's incredible. I remember as a child my mother used to make me stay in after six.

"It was scary but now my kids are out until eleven at night and they're safe. They've done an amazing job."

Feeling watched

But Operation Impact hasn't been without its problems.

Some young people say police are targeting them due to their age

From a police point of view, some young officers believe they're not paid enough to be thrown straight into the field.

And secondly, the scheme is used in places where there are lots of young people.

Some feel they're being watched just because they are from a certain ethnic or age group.

One man, who wouldn't give his name, told Newsbeat he always feels like the police are after him.

"You can be Latino, Cuban, black. They think we're all the same and that we all do the same bad stuff.

"That's not true. We may be young and different but we're not all criminals."