In New York City, small neighborhood shops—bodegas—will soon be the sites of community safety workshops thanks to a City Council pilot program called “Trained, Not Armed.” The initiative aims to teach shopkeepers, often immigrants and non-English speakers, how to handle tense situations without resorting to force or police intervention.
The project is also supported by the Yemeni-American Merchants Association and complements a $1.6 million initiative by Mayor Adams to install alarm buttons in 500 stores in response to a recent crime wave. These are devices aimed at bodegas located in high-crime areas, linked directly to the NYPD’s central command to reduce response times. The challenge: transform bodegas from vulnerable targets to respected civic principals.
The Daily News recounted what happened during an exercise at Jabar Almontaser’s bodega in the Bronx. Aaron Jones, co-founder of the Community Changing Fund—designed to promote social change and community development in the city—explained that during the simulation in which a fake customer behaved aggressively, Almontaser reacted correctly: he kept calm and spoke kindly, without provoking or chasing him away.
“We need to understand each other,” Jones said. “We want to work things out before it’s necessary to call the police.” The training comes at a delicate time for the bodegas, still grappling with the consequences of increased theft and violence post-pandemic.
“I have changed the way I see people,” Almontaser said. “I look at them as family and treat them with respect.”
