NYPD Sex Crime Office Could Open On Austin Street

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — Part of a former urgent care in Forest Hills could become an office for Queens' NYPD Special Victims Squad, according to a zoning application.

The NYPD wants to relocate its Queens Special Victims Squad — an office for supporting survivors of sexual assault and interviewing suspects of sex crimes — from the 112th Precinct to 6920-6930 Austin Street, where an urgent care stood until 2019, an application shows.

This relocation is part of a years-long effort to make the NYPD's Special Victims Division more survivor-focused after a city investigation found that the NYPD "understaffed and under resourced" the department for much of the 2010s, the project description states.

In the current Queens office, for instance, victims and suspects can see each other, but the proposed new office would avoid that by having separate victim and suspect entrances, according to the project description.

Reached for comment, the NYPD referred Patch to a 2019 press release detailing improvements at citywide Special Victims Division offices. "Facility improvements in Queens are also underway and the department is actively searching for a new location for the squad," the press release reads.

As proposed, the layout of the Special Victims Squad office on Austin street (which is seemingly years in the making) aligns with upgrades made at other citywide offices.

The new office will have more services for survivors, according to the project description, including a lactation room and a pantry as well as 10 parking spaces dedicated for victim services providers, like medical personnel and victim advocacy representatives from Safe Horizons.

The office won't have cells, though, since the 112th Precinct, which is located down the street, has holding cells that can be used as necessary, according to the project description.

As planned, the Austin Street Special Victims Squad office would be open from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily, with 15 of the office's staff — including NYPD officers and staff from Safe Horizons— working per shift, the project description states.

The application, which is considered a city acquisition of office space, has to go through a modified land review process starting with a public hearing organized by the city planning commission, a vote from that commission, and a review by the city council.

A date for the hearing hasn't been set, according to the city's zoning application portal.

Forest Hill's Community Board 6 and the Queens Borough President, neither of whom will issue a vote on this project unlike standard ULURP proceedings, are still expected to be notified of the project.