Bedford Park church keeps up crusade against drugs, crime

A Bedford Park church continues to crucify drug use and crime that has plagued its neighborhood over the past twenty years. In 1986, parishioners at Our Lady of Refuge Church nailed up 14 crosses to

News 12 Staff

Aug 26, 2006, 10:43 PM

Updated 6,620 days ago

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A Bedford Park church continues to crucify drug use and crime that has plagued its neighborhood over the past twenty years.
In 1986, parishioners at Our Lady of Refuge Church nailed up 14 crosses to mark places frequented by drug dealers. Father John Jenik says the drug dealing and violent crime associated with it has gotten worse. Parishioners want a greater police presence and they want officers to selectively target dealers, instead of performing random traffic stops.
The NYPD says officers have made more than 11,000 narcotics arrests this year and overall crime has decreased 67 percent over the last 13 years. However, police admit eight murders and 17 rapes have occurred in Bedford Park so far this year.