Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs
New York will be getting a new “Quality of Life” commission to clamp down on aggressive panhandlers, open air drug use and homelessness plaguing the Big Apple’s streets and subways, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Wednesday.
The commission — which is set to be finalized and implemented in the coming months — aims, in part, to track the complaints everyday New Yorkers make about the city’s decay in the same way cops respond to crime, Tisch said.
“Crime and violence are major parts of the public safety equation, but when residents [and] businesses and tourists are plagued with issues like out of control scooters and e-bikes, aggressive panhandling, unruly street vending, public urination, open air junkies and more, it makes people feel unsafe — and it gives the impression of chaos and disorder,” she said at an Association for a Better New York event.
“Quality of life enforcement is based on community complaints,” the commish added. “It’s about listening to the people in our neighborhoods who are calling everyone and pleading for someone to come and help them.”
Complaints about panhandling have surged a staggering 2,700% between 2018 to 2024, Tisch said, noting that overall 311 calls had nearly doubled in the past six years alone.
Illegal parking complaints have gone up 202%, noise complaints are up 119%, and calls about homeless encampments have increased 557% in that time frame.
“New Yorkers are clearly demanding that something be done,” the NYPD boss said.
Under the plan, the NYPD will establish a special quality of life division to be headed by a new “chief of city wide quality of life.”
The move will see precinct officers dedicated to newly formed Q, or quality of life, teams — rather than various units scattered throughout the department.
These teams will have strong, centralized leadership and be specially trained to handle and resolve these issues,” Tisch vowed.
“We’re also developing Q step, which will track quality of life complaints the same way that CompStat tracks crime complaints,” she added.
“Our Q step people will keep us accountable, more accurately measure our effectiveness and re-center our approach to public safety.”
