A community group in New York City’s Greenwich Village has contracted armed guards to combat crime, such as drug activity and public defecation.
The West 4th Mac/6th Block Association recruited the officers from Black Tie Protection Services to patrol West Fourth Street between MacDougal Street and Sixth Avenue in August, the New York Post reported Saturday.
Resident Brian Maloney told the outlet it was the only answer to the problem.
“We have residents saying, ‘We’re a liberal city. The Village is a very liberal area.’ Well, I’ve lost my liberal-ness on this. It baffles me,” he commented. “The security certainly gave me peace of mind.”
Video footage showed people loitering on the side of the street, and the owner of Washington Square diner told Fox 5 it was “The worst it’s been in 21 years when it comes to crime.”
According to Maloney, the firm received $18,000 for the month, and it remained to be seen if the block association would extend the guards’ contract.
He added it was difficult to pay while taxes and costs at the grocery store remained high.
Another neighbor told the Post she had never seen things so bad, stating, “I lived through the ‘70s and ‘80s when people said things were really rough. I was never afraid then. I am now. It all comes from the top, and [Manhattan DA] Bragg has not helped any of us.”
In August, Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), the Republican gubernatorial nominee in the state, again said he would fire the George Soros-funded Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg the day he took office, according to Breitbart News.
“Bragg’s soft-on-crime approach recently resulted in a 15-year-old girl being sexually assaulted by a suspect Braggs’s office released back into the streets,” the outlet stated, adding Zeldin previously argued it was the governor’s “constitutional responsibility” to fire district attorneys who do not enforce the law.
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