Bronx, New York – Police in crime-infested South Bronx neighborhoods are not doing aggressive or intuitive policing over fears they will get sued or be prosecuted, officers told the New York Post.

Police in the 42nd precinct are staying clear of encounters that could land them in court or in front of the city’s Civilian Complaint Review Board for alleged brutality, one law-enforcement source told the newspaper.

“Police officers are afraid to do their job because they’re afraid of being sued and possibly arrested and prosecuted,’’ the source said. “Basically, the Bronx DA has made it open season on officers in the 42nd Precinct, emboldening perps to go out and commit these violent crimes.”

The New York Post reported that shootings had increased dramatically in the area. The NYPD’s most recent stats show shootings in the precinct have jumped 64 percent, from 14 to 23, so far this year compared to the same period in 2016.

“Usually, when you have people peddling hard drugs, you have guns nearby, inside a car or an apartment,’’ a precinct cop said.

“I try to minimize incidents where I can get in trouble,” the officer said. “It’s kind of sad, but it’s career preservation.”

Another law-enforcement source said it’s not just a few police officers in the precinct who are taking this tactic.

“It’s everybody — 100 percent,” the source told the newspaper.

Law enforcement sources said the situation is a result of a number of incidents happening within the city and nationwide.

There have been a lot of civil rights lawsuits filed against the city that some believe are settled too easily by the city.

Last month, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark announced they were investigating police misconduct in a shooting case against Pedro Hernandez. The police say Hernandez is a gang member who orchestrated a shooting of a rival gang member via Facebook. Hernandez has been arrested seven times on felony charges since 2014, according to the New York Times.

Also, there has been a national outcry among extremists on the left pushing Black Lives Matter’s narrative of police misconduct, which has been promoted by the media.

The New York Post reported that several precinct patrol officers said they didn’t bust suspected drug dealers who were taunting them while recording with cellphone cameras.

One officer said neighbors were “leaning out their windows, shouting at us to go away.”

“In the past, we’d stand our ground, start issuing summonses. But we just moved on,” an officer said. “It was hard, to be honest.”