The NYPD has designated the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Brighton Beach and Coney Island as impact zones, its name for areas that have experienced a documented upsurge in criminal activity and require additional measures to ensure order. 

We have already written about how May was one of the most tragic months in the history of these neighborhoods popular among Russian immigrants. Shots have been fired many times on streets near the beach, resulting in murders, robberies, and other crimes. Despite their best efforts, officers from the 60th Precinct have been unable to explain the jump in crime. We can only guess at the causes. Some say that the neighborhood has been occupied by members of Latin American gangs. Others put all the blame on visitors – mainly students from CIS countries [Commonwealth of Independent States made up of former Soviet Republics]. Still others cite the financial crisis and unemployment.  

Top brass at the NYPD decided to transfer 32 additional officers, three sergeants, and one lieutenant to clean up the impact zone. Their mission is to carry out round-the-clock patrols on the streets of Brighton Beach and Coney Island, especially in places where young people and the homeless gather. 

These neighborhoods are thought to be two of the hardest to patrol in the entire city. They have many dead ends and narrow alleyways that thieves, robbers, rapists, and murderers can easily use to slip away. It is especially dangerous for couples who want to spend some time alone together on the beach at night. Officers are warning that these romantic dates could end in encounters with criminals.  

Members of Internet forums rightly blame drunken, Spanish-speaking youths for most of these crimes. "Some Mexicans made dirty jokes about my girlfriend," said one participant in the forum. "It took all I had to avoid starting a fight with him." 

Clearly, if someone who has been offended were to start a fight, everything could end sadly. Knifings, assaults, and shoot-outs are far from rare in Brighton Beach and Coney Island.  

Local residents believe that one of the main reasons for the surge in crime is the "deterioration of Coney Island" caused by large-scale construction. Most of the current rides have fallen into disrepair, a portion of the stores have been closed, and the vacant residences and storefronts have become haunts for addicts and prostitutes.  

"The situation today reminds me of the late 1970s," said Vincent Farandino, a resident of Coney Island for 50 years. "Addicts, prostitutes, and gang members would come out at dusk. They would sell drugs, pick fights with one another, argue and, of course, hound passersby." 

It's hard not to agree with Farandino. People come to Coney Island and Brighton Beach for only two reasons: to buy cheap groceries in Russian stores or to swim in the ocean and sunbathe on the beach. So, when the beaches and most of the stores close after 6 or 7 p.m., the neighborhood turns into a kind of "twilight zone" where there is basically nothing to do. 

"Now I only park in a garage," admitted Bay Ridge resident David Hook. "My car was stolen twice in May and the second time it was parked near a police station! It's clear to the naked eye that the number of beggars and homeless people here has increased sharply." 

Karl Vincente, a resident of neighboring Seagate, has noticed an increase in the number of alcoholics: "I see deranged people on the way to the bus stop every day. They are openly drinking beer, cursing, and begging for a couple of dollars. If this is going on at 7 in the morning, then what is happening at midnight?" 

Many local residents are not satisfied with the number of police officers on the street in the evening and nighttime hours. 

"The officers are patrolling places where the greatest numbers of people gather – the beaches, the boardwalk and street cafes," noted resident Iva Rizzo. "But if you go deeper into the neighborhood, you'll find wastelands where large groups are hanging out and there is not one officer around." 

It would be nice to believe that the crime rate in Brighton Beach and Coney Island will fall with the additional police officers. But it is now clear that the officers will have to apply a maximum amount of effort to save their reputations and the reputations of neighborhoods along the shore. The beach season started two weeks ago, which means that an influx of tourists is expected from all corners of the Big Apple? Unfortunately, not all of them are coming here to relax.