New Police Division Targets Stuff That Makes New Yorkers Crazy

In its latest effort to prove it’s listening to the 311 complaints piling up, New York City has officially launched a new NYPD Quality of Life Division. Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced the initiative which aims to clean up the everyday nuisances that don’t necessarily make headlines but certainly make your blood pressure rise.

The new division will address non-emergency issues that many New Yorkers say are eating away at their sanity: illegal mopeds, outdoor drug use, reckless drivers, loud parties, and that guy who insists on blasting music from his trunk at 2 a.m. The idea is to respond quickly, visibly, and (ideally) respectfully, to restore some semblance of order in city neighborhoods.

“Since day one, this administration has been clear: We will not tolerate an atmosphere where anything goes," said Mayor Adams, who once again promised to make New York “the best place to raise a family."

New City Task Force to Tackle Noise, Drugs, and Quality-of-Life Issues

The initiative won’t come with a new price tag either, instead, the NYPD is shuffling around existing staff from community-based units like Neighborhood Coordination Officers and Youth Officers. The revamped teams will be bundled into what the city is calling “Q-Teams,” short for Quality of Life Teams. Yes, it’s a rebrand. Yes, they’re rolling out a whole new acronym system called “Q-Stat” to track local data on things like noise complaints and sidewalk chaos.

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So far, the pilot program is launching in five precincts and the NYPD says it’ll evaluate the results over the next two months before expanding citywide.

Officers joining the new division will receive additional training, including how to handle encampments, broken down vehicles, and those mysteriously abandoned dirt bikes that somehow multiply overnight. They’ll also get a refresher on how NYC311 works.