NYPD Expands Juvenile Offender Program

New York City police are expanding a program where officers work with juvenile offenders to make sure they don't get into more serious trouble.

The NYPD's Juvenile Robbery Intervention Program started in 2007 to address the rise in robberies in public housing in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn. Police analyzed the spike there and learned many of the incidents were youth preying on
youth. The program is expanding Wednesday to include a housing area in East Harlem.

The program includes home visits and parental involvement to break the cycle of crime and reduce the repetition rate. The NYPD says that in Brooklyn, youth in the program had been arrested for a total of 180 robberies, and a year later there were only 29 arrests in the group.

Major crime in public housing is down 18 percent from last year.