Apparently last month's bust of City Island's drug-dealing barber wasn't exactly a "wake-up call" for authorities. Residents of the Laurels apartment complex were convinced that drug dealers were using their residence as a home base, despite the fact that six NYPD cops lived there. Three policemen who recently moved in, saw "cars pulling in at 2, 3, 4 o'clock in the morning," and cameras the drug dealers set up to monitor their surroundings. They took notes on license plates, makes and models and even the dealers' names. Civic Association president, former cop and onetime partner of the man who created Compstat, Bill Stanton, took the information to the 45 precinct captain. But that's where the investigation was stymied. "Nothing" happened, Stanton tells the Post, "It's like a free pass to drug dealers."
Stanton calls the captain "efficient," and blames the higher-ups for the case not being pursued, saying "We've teed this up, we've served it up on a silver platter, stick a fork in them and they're done! I heard all these narcotics, DEA and FBI guys, 'they're looking at it.' That's all they seem to be doing: looking at it." An inspector called Stanton, inviting him to lunch to possibly soothe his complaints, but the ex-private detective told him, "'Why don't we meet for dinner when you lock these guys up?' And he starts stuttering." The NYPD claims that they're "aware" of the situation, and that it's "under investigation." Several years ago, City Island residents complained that police ignored prostitution and drug sales in the idyllic Bronx outpost.
