New Haven Independent

Shah, alderman of the shooting-plagued neighborhood, offered his prescription Tuesday at a press conference on the winding front porch of the AIDS Project New Haven building on Chapel Street (where he’s a case worker).

The time is over for “forums” (like one scheduled Tuesday night at Berger Apartments) about the recent spate of murder and other shootings in the neighborhood around Winthrop, Chapel, Derby and the Boulevard, Shah declared. The time has come for action.

“We had a forum: ‘No tolerance for shooting.’ The next day was a shooting. What good is a forum?” Shah said.

“I can’t go to another forum. I don’t need to sit two, three hours to hear how many shooting there are in the neighborhood. We know what the problems are. We need a strategic plan.”

To that end, Shah has invited members of the Greer family into West River to train neighbors in forming on-the-street patrols and other efforts to scare away troublemakers. Last year the Greers, who run a yeshiva on Elm Street, formed an armed, bike-riding patrol in the Edgewood neighborhood after a rash of violent incidents. They also joined with other neighbors in protesting against the city for more cops, to fire the police chief, to revive community policing, and more recently to save the Whalley Avenue substation. Since then, their district saw the largest percentage drop in violent crime citywide. The Guardian Angels formed a patrol unit there. The city began a sweeping police reform effort, under a new chief, and organized a version of a successful North Carolina experiment in community policing. (City officials argue that other factors besides the patrols led to the neighborhood’s crime decline.)

Yusuf Shah said he doesn’t want patrols armed in his neighborhood. Otherwise, he has come to agree with the Greers’ methods, which he initially opposed because of the guns. (The group has since put down its guns.) He proposed Tuesday that neighborhood leaders, block watches, and groups like the West River Neighborhood Corporation sign a “memorandum of agreement” with the Greers to help recruit, organize and train citizen volunteers in West River.

“Help us patrol until we can get on our feet,” Shah said.

He also said he’d like the Guardian Angels to come to West River. The Angels announced Sunday they’re going to try to organize a chapter just north of West River, across Chapel Street.

Shah has already met with Edgewood Park Defense Patrol leader Eli Greer to discuss this idea. Greer said Tuesday he’s happy to come help. And he doesn’t need to be paid. (Shah had discussed possibly seeking block grants or other money to pay for the training.)

“We’re not going to graft our people into their neighborhood and tell them what to do. No way,” Greer said. “We’re not going to do their patrols. Their neighborhood. Their hot spots. There’s some great people in that neighborhood” who can overcome being intimidated.

In New Haven, Greer said, “change comes from the bottom up.” After neighbors organize their own patrols, he predicted, then they’ll receive more police help from the city.

Shah said he did differ from one aspect of the past year’s Edgewood effort: He eschews confrontations, such as press conferences and demonstrations criticizing city officials.

“There has to be more diplomacy” than confrontation, he said.

Didn’t the Edgewood tactics produce results? Shah was asked.

“Greer can be the bad cop. I can be the good cop. Together,” he said, they’ll produce results.