In many sections of District 19 an urgent call to the police can lead to a very long and dangerous wait for a police squad car to arrive. Two precincts serve District 19. The 111th Precinct is located on 215th Street off a Northern Boulevard in Bayside. The 109th Precinct is located on Union Street in Flushing. The 109th Precinct covers a vast mass of territory stretching from Flushing through Whitestone, College Point and Bay Terrace. The distance from the 109thth Precinct can have dangerous consequences for a person in need of help. It should be a basic tenant that every citizen of New York, including the residents of Whitestone, College Point and Bay Terrace, deserves a fast response to a request for police assistance during an emergency. Precinct to the communities of Whitestone, College Point and Bay Terrace and the amount of traffic in the Flushing neighborhood of the 109.

It is easy to understand the causes of the problem. A district resident living at 28th Avenue and Bell Boulevard in Bayside resides 1.2 miles from the 111th Avenue and Bell Boulevard resides nearly five miles from the 109th Precinct that serves his or her home. A police squad car sent from the 111th Precinct to the Bayside resident living at 28th Avenue and Bell Boulevard would take approximately 2 minutes to arrive. A police squad car sent from the 109th Precinct to the Bay Terrace resident living at 25th Avenue and Bell Boulevard would take approximately 12 minutes to arrive. Since the 109th Precinct is located in a congested area of Flushing, that response time could even be longer if traffic is especially busy in Flushing. This is just one example of the long and dangerous response times experienced by sections of the communities of College Point, Whitestone and Bay Terrace when assistance is needed from the 109th Precinct. Precinct that serves his or her home. A Bay Terrace resident living a few blocks away at 16.

The solution to this problem is the creation of a new police precinct to service College Point, Whitestone and Bay Terrace. The residents of College Point, Whitestone and Bay Terrace deserve reasonable response times when an emergency arises. In addition, since the 109th Precinct is located so far from these communities, College Point, Whitestone and Bay Terrace do not enjoy the basic police presence they deserve. A new precinct would also increase the overall police presence in these communities. The presence of police cruisers alone can be a great deterrent to both petty and serious crime. The residents of College Point, Whitestone and Bay Terrace deserve to live in safe communities with safe streets. They should also expect fast responses from calls for help.

In the interim, while a new precinct is planned and built, a police substation should be built in Bay Terrace in order to give some immediate relief to the lack of police presence and to the dangerously long response times provided by the 109th Precinct to the communities of College Point, Whitestone and Bay Terrace. College Point, Whitestone and Bay Terrace deserve it.