Upper East Side Residents Help Protect Their Neighborhoods

19th Precinct have a new partner in their efforts to protect their neighborhood. Bell Atlantic Mobile, one of the area's newest residents with a Communications Store at Third Avenue and E. 73rd St., is arming the Upper East Side Civilian Observation Patrol with 10 wireless phones that will summon police at the touch of a button.

Company representatives will meet with NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Community Affairs Yolanda Jimenez, Assistant Chief Nicholas Estavillo, Inspector Joanne Jaffee and members of the newly formed neighborhood watch group this evening at the 19th Precinct headquarters where new members will be trained to assist police and instructed in the use of the wireless phones. The gathering is part of the NYPD's ongoing Crime Prevention Month activities aimed at creating safer neighborhoods.

Deputy Commissioner Jimenez said Bell Atlantic Mobile approached the NYPD recently and offered the specially programmed 9-1-1 wireless phones to help in the neighborhood's crime watch.

"Police Commissioner Safir and I are committed to our city's Civilian Observation Patrol programs, and recognize the importance of public-private partnerships in furthering our city's reduction in crime," Jimenez said. "Bell Atlantic Mobile's donation of wireless phones provides another measure for fighting crime and improving safety in our communities. With instant access to police assistance wherever it's needed, community patrol members are equipped with what they need to make a difference for residents."

Local Bell Atlantic Mobile Store Manager Olga Shlimoun said the phones are being donated as part of the company's "Wireless At Work" community service program.

"With the opening of our new Communications Store, we became members of this neighborhood and want to do our part to make it safe," she said. "We're proud to support these community volunteers as they patrol their streets and provide a critical service for all of us."

Bell Atlantic Mobile, during the past year, has donated more than 300 wireless phones in the New York metro area to victims of domestic violence, school crossing guards and other neighborhood watch groups.

Bell Atlantic Mobile is the largest wireless service provider on the East Coast and the second largest in the United States. The company owns and operates the most extensive network in the East, covering 111,000 square miles, and the largest chain of wireless retail outlets offering a full range of wireless personal communications services, including voice, data, and paging. Based in Bedminster, NJ, Bell Atlantic Mobile has more than five million customers and 7,000 employees in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and, through a separate subsidiary, in the Southwest. The company is the chief wireless subsidiary of the new Bell Atlantic, formed through the merger of Bell Atlantic and NYNEX corporations.

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