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A Brooklyn commander is under investigation after sources claimed he interfered with a teenage suspect’s possible arrest, according to the Daily News.
NYPD’s Capt. Derby St. Fort is under investigation after the Internal Affairs Bureau received information that St. Fort was informed by his officers that a teen boy flashed a gun inside a Coney Island Ave. lounge in Homecrest while live-streaming on New Year’s Eve of 2021.
The commander sent his officers to the location but told them not to make any arrests or approach the suspect. While the officers followed orders, sources claimed the livestream video disappeared, leading some to believe that St. Fort prevented the teen from getting arrested due to knowing him from We Build the Block, a program that tries to keep imperiled children from gun violence. They believe St. Fort alerted the teen’s mother.
The IAB is investigating St. Fort to see if the claims are valid. St. Fort had been investigated before due to complaints about how his police officers responded to 311 calls, but the probe was stopped.
An anonymous source told the outlet that the commander did no wrong.
“Anyone who says otherwise is smearing a good cop trying to impact young people impacted by violence within their community,” the source claimed.
St. Fort ran the 61st Precinct, which had been investigated for delayed responses to 311 complaints. Investigators also discovered that some of the responses to the complaints were never documented, so it was unclear if the complaints were addressed. If they were, the documents never reported who handled them.
In 2022, St. Fort was interviewed by the New York Times, where he explained his approach to gang and gun violence after two gang rivals’ feud led to many deaths and arrests. The victims and suspects were teenagers.
He told the publication that he collaborated with an anti-violence coalition and a neighborhood activist to get 15 of the young boys associated with the gang rivalry together for a weekly discussion, paying them a $150 stipend for their participation. His approach addressed gun violence by reaching the next generation since they were young enough and in the position to change their minds, attitudes and lives.
He didn’t feel the policing approach would effectively enact change in the community.
“We can address gun violence differently than what we’re doing,” St. Fort said. “We can have direct contact with the kids who are involved.”