Although a recent meeting between Mill Brook and Mitchel Houses tenants and NYPD officers began well enough, with pizza, pleasantries, and 35 participants, it was derailed roughly 20 minutes later after rows of residents left following a tense exchange between a tenant and the officer leading the session.

The Masjid Ebun Abass Mosque on the corner of Alexander and Third avenues was damaged by BB pellet shootings during the holy period of Ramadan. The police have classified the acts of vandalism as hate crimes and the mosque is now being guarded around the clock by officers from the 40th Precinct.

It’s a challenging position—the police are the most visible tool on the front lines of the drug war, however the responsibility is also shared between city agencies and nonprofits dedicated to harm reduction.

Increased needle sightings are just one of the symptoms that surfaced this spring, after the 40th Precinct shut down The Hole—a notorious drug den out of sight from onlookers on E. 149th St. and St. Ann’s Ave.

It was business as usual last Wednesday as Crime Prevention Officer Reina Marrero walked past the 40th Precinct’s holding cells. One was occupied. But on Halloween, these cells will be filled with a crop of unearthly inmates.

A handful of residents who attended a meeting with police officers complained about a preponderance of used syringes and needles being discarded in parks and playgrounds by people who frequent the Hub’s numerous methadone clinics.

Frustrated community members got a chance to air their concerns over Mott Haven’s high crime rates at a public forum that the NYPD says it plans to make into a regular occurrence.

While Mayor de Blasio proudly touts record-low violent crime statistics across the city, many Mott Haven residents say they’re seeing a darker picture.