What Happened When a Brooklyn Neighborhood Policed Itself for Five Days

NEW YORK — It had been a quiet April afternoon until about a dozen teenagers began running up Pitkin Avenue in Brownsville, yelling and cursing. They were chasing a girl of about 14, and it was clear they wanted a fight. Five plainclothes police officers watched warily. Across Pitkin stood about a half-dozen men, civilians in jeans and purple-and-gray sweatshirts. “They got it,” an officer said. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times The teenagers slowed...