By Howard Koplowitz
There were 10 murders in the 105th during 2007 through Dec. 16, the latest date for which statistics have been recorded by the Police Department. During that same period in 2006, there were eight murders.Three of the 10 murders occurred during the same incident, when Cambria Heights resident Jimmy Dawkins shot and killed his mother, her boyfriend and her home health care worker inside his home April 18 before turning the gun on himself in a triple-murder suicide.But the precinct, the largest in the borough in terms of geography Ð stretching from Glen Oaks in the north along the Nassau border to Rosedale in the south Ð, saw a combined 3 percent decrease among the seven major crime categories.”We've had a good year crime-wise,” said Deputy Inspector Steven Haynes, the commanding officer of the 105th precinct. Those categories are listed by the Police Department as murders, rapes, robberies, felony assaults, burglaries, grand larceny and car thefts.Felony assaults and burglaries were the two other categories besides murders that saw increases. All other major categories of crime decreased in the 105th, with stolen cars seeing the largest drop with about a 22 percent decline.The precinct recorded one fewer rape Ð 38 Ð in 2007 than it did in 2006 Ð a 2.5 percent drop.Robberies represent the third-largest drop in the 105th among the seven major crime categories with about a 4 percent decline.There were 404 robberies in the precinct during 2006 and 388 in 2007.There were 266 felony assaults in the 105th as of Dec. 16, compared to 238 for that same period in 2006 Ð about a 12 percent jump.Burglaries saw about an 11 percent increase from 2006 to 2007. There were 487 burglaries in the precinct during 2006 and 539 in 2007.With about a 6 percent drop, grand larcenies represented the second-largest category with a decrease in the 105th.There were 536 grand larcenies in the precinct in 2006 compared to 504 in 2007.Car thefts were the only category with a more than double-digit decrease, which Haynes referred to when speaking about the overall crime drop in the precinct.In 2006, there were 415 cars reported stolen in the precinct compared to 323 in 2007.Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 173.
