By —Tom Tracy
More cops will be coming to the corner of Flatbush Avenue and Avenue U, the main entranceway to Mill Basin, Mill Island and Bergen Beach, police announced last week. Joining members of the Bergen Beach Civic Association, Captain Mark DiPaolo, executive officer of the 63rd Precinct, said that a good number of the 10 NYPD academy graduates would be assigned to the heavy traffic corner to keep an eye on crime and traffic. An added presence of officers should curtail the number of dollar vans picking up patrons of the Kings Plaza mall. The rest of the cops will be assigned to other “robbery posts” in the command, like Ralph Avenue, added Deputy Inspector Kevin McGinn, the precinct’s commanding officer. Overall, crime in the precinct fell by three percent in 2005. Within the last 12 years, crime in the command has fallen by 70 percent, he said. But the year did not end without its share of problems. According to year-end figures, the 63rd Precinct saw an increase in both robberies and felony assaults, which McGinn attributes to a rise in domestic violence cases in the command. McGinn said that there were 1,611 felony crimes reported to the station house, located on Brooklyn Avenue, throughout the year. In 2004, 1,657 felony crimes had been reported, he said. Of those 1,611, four of the crimes were homicides – up two from the two that were committed in 2004 — and 16 rapes, up four from the 12 committed in 2004. The number of robberies in the command rose from 269 in 2004 to 280 last year, McGinn noted. As were assaults, which jumped from 111 in 2004 to 140 in 2005, according to police statistics. The number of burglaries in the command, however, dropped, from 242 in 2004 to 215 last year. While most commands are wracking their brains over the ever-increasing scourge of identity thieves in their precinct, the 63rd Precinct actually saw a drop in grand larcenies, which fell from 705 in 2004 to 663 last year. There was also a reduction of car thefts in the precinct – from 316 to 293, McGinn said. “We’re still going down, but it’s never going to get to zero,” he said. “Still, we’re doing what we can.”
