Alliance Officers Deal with Lost Kids, Disoriented Elders, and the Occasional Stickup Man Packing Heat
The Downtown Alliance continued a decades-long tradition on March 12 by honoring members of its Public Safety Officer program who have rendered meritorious service in the last year. The Alliance’s public safety team, comprised of more than 40 security officers (recognizable by their signature bright red jackets) intervene in emergencies, such as reporting crimes in progress and reuniting lost children with their families, while also calling in violations by street vendors and peddlers within their patrol zone – an area roughly from City Hall to the Battery, between the East River and West Street.
In a ceremony held at Giardino d’Oro on Gold Street, Alliance president Jessica Lappin observed, “acting as our eyes and ears on the streets of Lower Manhattan is the work our public safety team does everyday. These awards showcase the many ways our honorees have gone above and beyond their normal duties to benefit our community.”
This year’s honorees included security officers Theresa Seignious and Malaysia Venable who, on August 26, were informed by a person exiting the subway of a lost child in the Wall Street station of the 4 and 5 line. Entering the subway to investigate, they found a 12-year-old girl sitting on the platform. Overcoming a language barrier, the guards were able contact the girl’s mother by phone and reunite them.
Also in August, Officer Seignious was approached by a lost 71-year-old female. In spite of a language barrier and disorientation on the part of the woman, Alliance officers used Google Translate to determine that she was a Polish tourist who had become separated from her tour group. After attempting to contact the Polish Embassy, they used WhatsApp to contact the tour leaders and reunite the woman with them.
Last July, Officer Jeremy Vega was informed of a violent dispute inside a smoke shop at 80 Nassau Street. After asking his dispatcher to call for police assistance, he was joined by Supervisor Shawn Soto, along with Officers Jerry Marcus and James Paige. As the four Alliance officers watched the site, they saw two men flee, heading north on Nassau Street. One of the men dropped a firearm. Alliance officers secured the gun with a traffic cone and blocked northbound traffic on Nassau Street to cordon off the crime scene. Supervisor Soto ascertained that the incident was an attempted robbery, and notified the NYPD’s First Precinct.
The Alliance’s safety and security personnel undergo a level of training that some area residents might find surprising. Several have attended multi-week programs provided by the NYPD and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In the nearly 20 years that the Alliance has been fielding public safety officers, crime in Lower Manhattan has dropped considerably and the residential population has nearly doubled. The group’s mission has also changed with the times. Today, in addition to counterterrorism training, the Alliance’s public safety team is coached on providing Lower Manhattan’s millions of annual tourists with directions, district maps, and recommendations on local attractions. But they also respond as a unit to grave crises, such as 2012’s Hurricane Sandy, when eight officers remained at their posts for 72 consecutive hours, providing crucial on-the-ground updates in real time about weather conditions, street closures, and flood impacts in Lower Manhattan.
The mission of the Downtown Alliance is to enhance Lower Manhattan for businesses, residents, and visitors. Along with providing security, the Alliance also offers trash pickup and operates the business improvement district south of Chambers Street. Among the services provided by the Alliance that Lower Manhattan residents especially prize is the Downtown Connection shuttle, which ferries passengers free of charge between 36 local stops that link Lower Manhattan residential neighborhoods with business and shopping districts. Running from 10am to 7:30pm seven days a week, and utilized by hundreds of thousands of riders each year, the Downtown Connection is funded in part by the Battery Park City Authority.