By Rebecca White and John Annese
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — The city is planning to put panic buttons linked to the NYPD in about 500 bodegas across the five boroughs, the mayor and police commissioner announced Sunday.
Mayor Adams and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the city will allocate $1.6 million through an emergency grant to the United Bodegas of America, as part of the city budget, to equip the bodegas with “Silent Shield” buttons that would link cameras in the food stores to the Police Department in real time.
The move comes after a string of recent killings in city bodegas, including a fatal stabbing in Harlem early Saturday, and two slayings in a 48-hour period last month — one at the Ameer Deli & Grill in Inwood, where a 24-year-old man was fatally knifed during a brawl, and the second outside the Shak Deli in Williamsbridge, the Bronx, where Sorai King, 20, was fatally shot.
“Bodegas are part of the heart and soul of New York City. They are on every corner; they are there for us at all hours, Adams said Sunday. “This program will bring peace of mind to our bodega owners. … We’re telling these small businesses: Your city has your back.”
United Bodegas of America spokesman Fernando Mateo called the alarms a “game changer.” His organization has long asked city and state officials to fund buttons in all 25,000 of the city’s bodegas.
Alex Mike, the manager at the Gourmet Deli on 51st St. at Eighth Ave. , told the Daily News on Sunday that a panic button would be a boon, and that he’s been in situations where he’s needed to quietly summon the cops to his 24-hour store.
“Many times. Stealing. Shoplifting. A robbery, too. We got robbed at night,” he said. “We just let them take whatever they want. It’s not worth it.”
Yousef Ali, 21, a cashier and manager at Flavor Taste at Seventh Ave. and 56th St. , said his father has a panic button at his store upstate.
“It’s safe. Beautiful. Faster,” he said. “You don’t have to find your phone to call.”
According to the mayor’s office, United Bodegas of America will solicit competitive bids for the tech, and plans to start installing the buttons over the next several months.
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