By Chris Fuchs
Overall crime in the 109th Precinct has risen by nearly 7 percent since the beginning of the year, with the number of grand larcenies and burglaries increasing by more than 30 percent from the same period last year, the police said.
The statistics for the precinct, which covers Flushing, Whitestone and College Point, are broken into seven categories: murder, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, grand larceny and grand larceny of automobiles. The Police Department statistics, spanning Jan. 1 to March 4, show rises in all categories except for murder and grand larceny of automobiles, compared with the same period of time last year.
Most significantly, the number of burglaries rose from 154 to 206, a 34 percent increase, and the number of grand larcenies climbed from 134 to 175, a 31 percent increase, the statistics show.
But Wanda Beck Antosh, the president of the 109th Precinct Community Council, attributed the rise not to a surge in crime but rather to an increase in people reporting it.
“I have a theory,” she said. “We have a very big Asian community, which did not go to the Police Department. They were afraid and skeptical for many, many years. And now they are becoming more aware that the police are not going to harm them but help them. Consequently, they are approaching the police with their problems.”
Although on the whole, criminal activity in the 109th Precinct had increased this year by 6.8 percent from year-earlier levels, the number of complaints for the seven categories has been on a steady decline over the past eight years. Last year, crime was down by 57 percent compared with 1993, the statistics show.
Inspector John Waters, commander of the 109th Precinct, did not return phone calls seeking comment.
There has been only one murder in the 109th Precinct so far this year, the police said. It happened March 3 at a nightclub on Main Street in what police say was a fight between two Chinese gangs that stemmed from an argument back in February. One of the patrons of the club, a 28-year-old man from Kentucky, was stabbed inside and died at the hospital, the police said. It was unclear whether he was a member of either group.
Police said three patrons of the nightclub were arrested but not charged with the stabbing.
Reach reporter Chris Fuchs by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.
