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Big brother is back!

By Sarah Portlock
The Brooklyn Paper
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The Brooklyn Paper / Sarah Portlock
Eye in the sky? The NYPD has deployed its Sky Watch mobile security post on Bridge Street this week, the second time Big Brother has been watching DUMBO.

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They’re always watching.

For the second time this year, cops at the 84th Precinct have deployed one of the city’s two-story mobile camera towers in DUMBO — and residents say they feel safer already.

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“A lot of stuff used to go on, and it’s calmed down since [the cops] put that there,” said Shanequa Williams, who said she used to be afraid to walk alone at night near the intersection of Bridge and York streets, where the Sky Watch tower was installed.

The hydraulic tower has nearly a dozen cameras and various sensors perched on top, and can zoom in on any nearly anything, a police source said. The 20-foot-tall platforms offer police improved vantage points, while reminding crooks that they’re being watched (though on Tuesday, the elevated pillbox was at ground level because it had run out of fuel, a cop explained).

Cops say they chose that location, which is in front of the Farragut Houses, because there has been a rash of muggings in the area.

“We have a problem building there,” the police source said. “It’s across the street from another building where a lot of people are getting mugged.”

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York Street resident Latiasha Davison also said she feels more comfortable with the tower in place.

“Honestly, any police activity makes me feel safer,” she said.

In April, cops parked the Sky Watch tower on Front Street between Adams and Pearl streets.— with Zeke Faux

©2008 The Brooklyn Paper

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