By Thomas Tracy
Even though no one has seen numbers this low since the Kennedy administration, Brooklyn murders counted for upwards of 40 percent of the 494 killings investigated throughout the city last year, officials said. Thus ends another see-saw year of crime-fighting for Patrol Borough Brooklyn North and Patrol Borough Brooklyn South, where, while crime numbers fell again, increases were seen in some key areas – including homicide. Statistics show that as of December 23, the number of killings in Brooklyn North had increased by three percent when compared to numbers generated in 2006. Officials said that 137 homicides took place in Brooklyn North, which includes Brooklyn Heights, Fort Greene, Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Bushwick. By the same time in 2006, 133 homicides had been reported. Patrol Borough Brooklyn South, which encompasses Carroll Gardens and Park Slope, investigated 67 homicides by December 23 – 20 less than the year before, officials said. Overall felony crime in Brooklyn South was down by 10 percent, with substantial drops in robbery and car theft, officials said. The numbers show that 26 of the Brooklyn North Homicides took place in our areas, with 13 of them occurring in Bushwick – seven more than the year before, or an increase of 116 percent. The precinct with the next highest homicide rate in our area was the 88th Precinct in Fort Greene, which saw 10 homicides. Statistics show that there were three homicides in the 90th Precinct in Williamsburg as well as two homicides investigated by the 84th Precinct in Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO. There were no homicides reported in Greenpoint. Just four of the 67 homicides in Brooklyn South took place in Park Slope and Carroll Gardens – with one occurring in the 78th Precinct and three taking place in the 76th Precinct, respectively. Still, the 76th Precinct had the lowest crime drop in our area with a fall of nearly 16 percent. According to officials at the Union Street stationhouse, robberies and burglaries in the command were down by 22 and 24 percent each. The number of car thefts in the command was down by nearly 46 percent. “Overall crime is down and we’re looking forward to charging ahead,” newly promoted Deputy Inspector Michael Kemper, the commanding officer of the 76th Precinct said recently. “We just want to thank the community for all of their support.” When it comes to falling crime rates, the 76th Precinct is followed by the 90th Precinct, which saw a 15 percent drop in crime. Skirting the bottom was the 84th Precinct, which saw an increase, albeit a slight one. As of December 30, the precinct saw a .24 percent increase – less than a quarter of one percent. That percentage tabulates to three additional felony crimes on top of the 1,262 that were reported in 2006. Throughout the course of the year, the precinct suffered increases in robbery and felony assault reports. About 20 more robberies and 21 more assaults occurred in the man than the year before, officials said. The 84th Precinct was one of six precincts throughout the city that showed an increase in crime, officials said. The remaining 70 commands throughout the five boroughs all saw decreases. With Brooklyn South leading the city in crime reduction in 2007 Chief Joseph Fox, the borough commanding officer said confidently last week that the crime conditions that occurred over 20 years ago are a thing of the past. “[Those crime trends] are a distant memory and they should stay that way,” said Fox, who joined the NYPD in the 1980s. “The stats we have now is something you never would have expected back then. You can’t even articulate the conditions that existed back in the 1980s to people in law enforcement today.” Fox said that the continued march toward lower and lower crime rates is possible by both the police and the people they serve. “[The crime reductions] have a lot to do with the work of the rank and file police officers out there doing their job and serving our community each and every day,” said Fox. “But their work couldn’t be done without the participation of all the community activists and residents who are in contact with us and tell us about any new crime conditions that are happening in their neighborhoods.” “With everyone working together, this year has been the highest example of policing I’ve witnessed in my career,” he said. “All of Brooklyn South have a reason to be proud.”
