ng up safety zones in the areas most heavily trafficked by students, the NYPD has said.

The NYPD also assigns specialized Youth Coordination Officers, supervised by sergeants, to monitor crime trends around schools and neighborhoods and to connect young people with programs.

The department also touts youth programs like Saturday Night Lights, a city-wide, youth sports program, and the Police Athletic League that runs youth initiatives.

But the NYPD can only do so much about the problem of juvenile crime, said New York Law School Professor Kirk Burkhalter, who served 20 years in the NYPD and retired as a first-grade detective.

 Sadly, this is nothing new,  he said.

8 A suspect wanted in connection with the murder of 14-year-old Malakai Adams in Queens was caught on surveillance video fleeing with the dead teen's scooter. dcpi

 I remember being a cop in the 1980s and life was extremely cheap and most of the folks doing the life-taking in large urban areas were very young,  he said, citing the crack epidemic as the driving force at the time.

Today's youth violence tends to explode over turf wars between crews in the city's neighborhoods and online threats and bragging among juveniles, experts have said.

 It's pretty amazing that there s a segment of young people who are committing crimes that would be difficult to apprehend them for but for them putting the proceeds of those crimes - and holding an unlicensed firearm - on some type of social media, literally bragging about it,  he said.

8 A GoFundMe page is shown for Malakai Adams, who was one of 76 children shot so far this year in New York City. GoFundMe

The most the NYPD can do in the end is to make arrests, Burkhalter said.

 The police are literally keeping the top on the bottle,  he said.  The only thing they can do is apprehend offenders once they've committed a crime. There has to be a different approach. 

The latest youth shooting happened when Jihadi Pack took a bullet to the stomach around 6:20 p.m. Wednesday behind NYCHA's King Towers building on West 115th Street near Malcolm X Boulevard, where he lived, according to police.

8 Jackie Rowe-Adams with Harlem Mothers and Fathers S.A.V.E. speaks to the press at the Madison Square Boys and Girls Club in Harlem in 2022 with Gov. Kathy Hochul.

He was rushed to Mount Sinai Morningside, but he could not be saved, authorities said.

A 57-year-old man - who law enforcement sources identified as a worker for the New York City Housing Authority - was struck in the right hand by an apparent stray bullet nearby, police and sources said. A 15-year-old was taken into custody but he wasn't immediately charged, police said.

The motive wasn't clear, cops said.

In another recent tragic case, 14-year-old Malakai Adams was fatally gunned down by a scooter-riding killer on Sept. 21 in Far Rockaway, Queens.

8 A handgun is shown after a 16-year-old student was busted with the weapon at Cambria Heights high school. Obtained by the New York Post

The shooter allegedly stole Adams' ride after blasting him in the back around 3:40 p.m. but it wasn't clear if that was the main motive, cops said. Investigators haven't ruled out gang involvement in the shooting, police sources said.

Harlem mom Jackie Rowe-Adams, who lost two sons in shootings, wants inner city communities to do more to help stop youth gun violence, she said.

 Let's tell the truth of what's happening in the urban community,  said the 79-year-old who runs a group called Harlem Mothers and Fathers SAVE (Stop Another Violent End) and helps grieving parents who've lost their children to street violence.

 We as parents and community leaders must do more,  she said.  We must check their backpacks when they leave our houses. We have to check under mattresses. I'm not saying it will stop it, but it could really slow it down. 

Rowe-Adams' son Anthony Bouldin was shot and killed in Harlem at the age of 17 in 1982. Sixteen years later, her 28-year-old son, Tyrone Bouldin, was murdered in Baltimore.

 You never, ever forget,  she said.  You learn to move on, but you never forget your loved ones. If I can save another mother or another family from feeling the hurt and pain, my life will not be in vain.