By Daniel Arimborgo
Crime in the 107th Precinct dropped 18 percent overall for the first six months of 2001 compared with the same time period last year, the Police Department said.
But murders were up by one in the first half of the year and nine more robberies were committed than the 160 recorded in the same span last year. The 107th Precinct covers Fresh Meadows, Kew Gardens Hills, Briarwood and Jamaica Estates.
The other five major crime categories, which include rape, felonious assault, burglary, grand larceny, and auto theft, saw decreases, which contributed to 241 less crimes being committed in the precinct during the January-June span in 2001.
Only two murders, one more than last year, were reported in the first six months this year.
Rapes dropped to six in the latest period from 10 last year. Felonious assault dropped 44 percent to 65 from 116 to 65, the NYPD statistics showed.
Burglaries were down a little more than 10 percent, from 281 last year to 249 this year. Grand larceny incidents declined from 301 in the first half last year to 257 so far this year. And auto thefts, a prime concern in the community, were down 25 percent, from 474 in the first six months of last year, compared to 354 in 2001.
Part of the increase in robberies can be attributed to four women who were robbed by two gunmen on a Q30 bus June 15. The bus was on Utopia Parkway in Fresh Meadows when the men forced the driver to pull over before fleeing with the women’s jewelry, after assaulting one of them. No arrests have been made.
Reach reporter Daniel Arimborgo by e-mail at timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300 Ext. 141.
