Queensbridge Policing

I spent several weeks in the spring of 2019 developing a documentary photo and text project that explored police-community relations in Queensbridge Houses in Queens, N.Y. Queensbridge is the largest public housing development in North America. It is located within the New York Police Department’s 114th Precinct and is policed by Police Service Area 9. Below are the images I made during that time.

Police Service Area 9 Commanding Officer Christopher Giambrone speaks with an officer who operates what is called a "temporary headquarters vehicle" (THV) in Ravenswood Houses, Long Island City, Queens, N.Y. on April 17, 2019. PSA 9 has one THV and …
Residents and children walk past an NYPD patrol van in Queensbridge Houses, Long Island City, Queens, N.Y. on April 8, 2019.
 
Frenchie Williams, 28, looks out of the window of his grandmother’s home, where he grew up, in the Queensbridge Houses in Long Island City, Queens, NY. on February 16, 2019.
 
Young men walk past a crime scene outside of Ravenswood Houses along 21st Street in Long Island City, Queens, N.Y. on April 18, 2019. A man was shot twice on this block (the exact location of the shooting is denoted by the yellow tape) near a busy i…
Eric "Sincere" Marshall sits in his bedroom, which is decorated with crosses and photographs of his deceased son Jahhad Marshall, in Astoria Houses, Long Island City, Queens, N.Y. on May 2, 2019. Jahhad Marshall died in 2015 when he was struck by a …
Commanding Officer Giambrone of Police Service Area 9 addresses attendees of the Ravenswood Tenants’ Association Meeting in Ravenswood Houses, Long Island City, Queens, N.Y. on April 10, 2019. Giambrone told attendees about a raid that PSA 9 had con…
Children play basketball on a court as a parked NYPD car patrols the court at Queensbridge Houses in Long Island City, Queens, N.Y. on February 16, 2019.
The entrance to the Jacob Riis Settlement House in Queensbridge Houses in Long Island City, Queens, N.Y., on February 2, 2019.
Activists hold up signs and photographs of victims of police violence in City Hall, New York, N.Y. on March 7, 2019. Activists, elected officials, and community members gathered in front of the City Council for a series of public hearings on police …
Commanding Officer Christopher Giambrone leaves his office across from Ravenswood Houses in Long Island City, Queens, N.Y. on April 17, 2019.