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| Sonja Sharp |
"The start to the year was very, very tough," Deputy Inspector John Lewis, the precinct's commander, told residents at the precinct community council meeting Thursday. "I think we had the greatest increase [in crime] in the city back in April, May and June. We would get called down to headquarters to explain what was going on — we got grilled plenty of times on it."
But as of autumn, police believe they've finally stemmed the tide of mayhem that began in January and lasted through the spring."In June, we were up 25 percent," Lewis said. "Right now, the crime rate is the same as it was in 2012, which means we went from a 25 percent crime increase to none."
Lewis credited the falling crime rate to a strategic deployment of extra resources from around Brooklyn South, combined with a series of critical arrests that landed longtime neighborhood troublemakers behind bars. The drop in shootings has been a particular point of pride for the precinct.
If you want to peak at stats through Oct 6, here's the full breakdown."We haven’t had a shooting since Labor Day. If you discount the incident on Labor Day, we’ve only had two shootings since June 22," Lewis said. "Out of 19 shootings, they’ve had arrests on seven. Eleven or 12 people were arrested, and every one of those people are in jail."
I'm glad to hear that that the added resources are being credited for something. The Q's been falling this saga very closely and meeting with the precinct on a regular basis. I wish I could share the optimism for our neck of the precinct, or tail, depending on which side of the precinct you consider the "head."
I will say this - there has been no question that the PTB (powers that be) have heard us roar. Or at least loudly meow.
15 comments:
What are they talking about, there were gunshots heard at Winthrop and Bedford less than a week ago. I guess since nobody got hit with a bullet it doesn't matter? Crime is still a issue and it's only when an innocent white kid gets shot in the head will the media or precinct really give a hoot. That's the truth!
Looks like we had another shooting and this time the person does not look like they will make it. It occurred at 2255 Bedford Avenue.
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local/new_york&id=9293552
Hopefully the police will log this incident into their database or maybe they will let this slide and keep touting how crime is not only declining but the rate of decline is accelerating. Would not shock me one bit to see that said but our local precincts.
This neighborhood is so pathetic!!! You do realize we are a laughing stock to the rest of gentrified Brooklyn. Wake the hell up people!!
FYI: 2255 Bedford Avenue is in Flatbush. Not PLG or "Lefferts". It's closer to East Flatbush and it's under the 70th precinct's command. Some of you are worst than the news anchors.
*worse. Sorry about that typo. I'm half asleep on my laptop.
Anon@11:22pm
According to the news story you posted, "Both victims are expected to survive", but your comment reads "the person does not look like they will make it".
Where did you get your information from, huh? You think that you can front a revelation, cuz?
Do you also happen to know if either of the victims was an innocent white kid?
The cops have made it abundantly clear in meeting after meeting that they do in fact make a distinction between crimes involving two parties who are "in the lifestyle" and where one is an "innocent victim." They're smart enough not to use racial descriptions when talking to me though, and frankly I'm glad for it, though there's an awful lot of code that gets used and we all know it.
When an "innocent" person gets mugged, or an "innocent" person gets beat up, or an "innocent" kid gets shot or god forbid killed, it does in fact create a big reaction from people. Where race plays out is in the notion of "innocent," and we've seen it again and again. Travyvon and Kimani are recent examples of how there is a great deal of assumed "guilt" out there about young black men that keeps white folks from being outraged when a black kid gets killed. So the comment about an "innocent white kid" resonates with me. I do in fact believe that a white kid getting shot or killed would create a new paradigm and probably a bigger response, but it would be a sad comment on racial assumptions.
As to the Church Avenue and Bedford area being "our" neighborhood or not...I don't know about you, but that's too damn close for MY comfort, regardless if it's the 70th or 67th.
Lastly, I don't think that "gentrifiers" in other neighborhoods are laughing about crime in theirs or any other neighborhood. If they are, they need their heads examined.
Every shot fired is a danger to us all. Whether the people were "in the lifestyle" or not, bullets flying, any bullets fired by anybody, means bystanders can be hit. Whether those bullets happen to hit targets or bystanders or not is not the question. The danger is still present. Those incidents need to be taken a lot more seriously by the 71st.
Yes Anon 12:25! This is a concern for all. Especially when a lot of these shots were fired in broad daylight near highly populated areas. The potential for fatalities or someone being struck should be the major focus. There doesn't seem to be an emphasis on proactive policing, just reactive.
Um. Yes to anon 12:25 and madmomma. The police may 'differentiate' but bullets don't. And, didn't we already have an innocent young mother fall victim? How was that not enough to be outraged about?!??
12:25 again here. It is a known fact that even for police who are trained in target practice, they have only an 18% hit rate with their bullets fired. Here is the quote I found, very easily googlint the subject: "The average hit rate for NYPD Officers involved in a gunfight between 1998 and 2006 was 18 percent. For every five shots, four bullets missed the intended target and went somewhere else. And that hit rate is consistent with the "normal" hit rate in armed encounters which hasn't changed much for years and years."
So now Imagine what an untrained teenager's hit rate is. It is completely illogical, and I mean total fantasy, that the intended target being "in the game" makes those bullets fired safer for the rest of us. Any claims that is so is pure politics.
The reason the police and media are not outraged about the death of an innocent young mother is exactly why my very first comment is the truth. I am sorry that this is the world we live in but Kanye West said it best after Hurricane Katrina.
NOBODY from the 71st precinct gives a crap about our neighborhood, and it's plainly due to demographics!! You can go to as many monthly police precinct meetings asking for more enforcement but until we can find a white father named Abraham ready to let his young lily white son Isaac walk up and down Winthrop Street by himself, we will forever be a neighborhood held hostage to a group of 2Pac wannabes. Do we have any Abrahams out there willing to volunteer?
Anon 10:46. Don't know why you needed to bring an unfitting Biblical metaphor using Jewish names to illustrate your point. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt here, though your insistence on racial statements worries me a bit. No matter, this is an open forum and I trust you understand that even 2Pac wannbes have Civil Rights, and some 2Pac wannabes are merely interested in aspiring to his artistry.
I agree that there is a tolerance for certain kinds of behavior that wouldn't fly elsewhere. But I think it's important to realize that that's not specific to Winthrop or any other block in the Precinct, or Central Brooklyn generally. We are NOT the cops, and while we have a spike, we're not really all that special either. We don't know all that narcotics and Brooklyn South know, and there may be good reasons for the ways that they work, and things might be way worse if they weren't doing the things they're doing.
All I want, and all I've really ever asked for, is regular uniformed patrol by officers with a decent understanding of the neighborhood, with the ability to shoot the breeze with kids and adults of every persuasion. Is it really so much to ask? I guess it is.
I am with you Q,
Cops walking the beat would make such a difference.
My kid is more of a linen white, will that do?
I've only seen a hand full of lily white kids in NYC.
I know a few coffee colored kids, some oil stain ones, some earwax ones, and a couple of cedar colored ones though.
By the way, Yeezy was talking about George Bush and not a police precinct. Some clarification about your sweeping generalities would be appreciated.
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