By Helen Klein
In support of women’s heart disease awareness, faculty and staff at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, 450 Clarkson Avenue, dress in red to celebrate National Wear Red Day during a health fair they organized, in which they administered blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol screenings. Red dress pins and red bracelets were given to participants courtesy of the American Heart Association. An increase in personnel has the 70th Precinct up by about 40 officers. Inspector Thomas Harris, the precinct’s commanding officer, told members of Community Board 14, gathered at the board office for the February meeting of the Police and Public Safety committee, that the new officers have been assigned to the precinct’s impact zone, where a higher concentration of officers engage in what is known as “hot spot policing,” basically flooding a small area with more cops in order to reduce crime and quality-of-life offenses. There are now approximately 110 officers assigned to the 70th Precinct’s impact zone, Harris added, because none of the officers already assigned there have been “moved to other commands.” Overall, there are 334 police officers, 35 sergeants, nine lieutenants and 30 civilians assigned to the precinct, Harris told his listeners, as well as 30 auxiliary officers. In addition, said Harris, the boundaries of the impact zone have been altered. Now, he told his listeners, the impact zone runs, “From Parkside and St. Paul’s down to Bedford Avenue, Bedford Avenue down to Linden, Linden up to Flatbush, Flatbush down to Foster, Foster up to Rugby, Rugby down to Newkirk, Newkirk down to East 21st Street, East 21st Street to Albemarle, Albemarle up to East 18th Street, then we hook back.” The area around Parade Place and Crooke Avenue is included again in the impact zone, Harris said. While it had been removed from it for a while, “We saw the quality of life issues starting to creep up, so we wanted to go back in.” In addition, Harris said, the area around Foster and Newkirk had been included to support the new residents and businesses in the area. “The command,” he remarked, “has gotten a lot better through gentrification. People are moving in, merchants are investing in the neighborhood. We wanted to show we were investing in that neighborhood too. That area could use a little bit of quality-of-life attention. I think it will have a positive effect. We hope it snowballs throughout the whole precinct.” Overall, crime in the precinct is down 6.74 percent year to date, through February 10th. That said, however, Harris noted that there were two problem categories. For one thing, he said, “We are seeing more robberies with younger kids, kids after school. We have the youth-on-youth crime and everyone has a T-Mobile Sidekick phone. It’s the new iPod.” So far, this year, there have been 66 robberies in the precinct, up from 49 at this time last year, for an increase of 34.6 percent, according to CompStat. Also up are incidents of Grand Larceny Auto. There have been 22 so far this year, up from 15 at this point last year, for an increase of 46.6 percent. However, said Harris, this statistic appears largely to reflect the activities of one particular perpetrator. “We have this guy, a crackhead, who lives by Foster and East 2nd Street. When people double park their livery cars on Coney Island Avenue, he would jump in and take off, and pick up passengers for an hour or so, then abandon the car,” Harris told the group. The individual, Harris added, has been, “Arrested not once but twice. The first time, unfortunately, he was cut loose. Friday, we got him again, for stealing a car in the 88th Precinct. He’s in jail now. So, we’re crossing our fingers. The DA’s office agreed to ask for a high bail so we’re hoping our car problem will go away.” In the other major crime categories, the 70th Precinct is flat or down, year to date. The largest decline has been in burglaries, which are down 37.7 percent, compared to 2007, with 38 so far this year, compared with 61 at this time last year. Also down are felonious assaults, with 39 so far this year compared with 47 at this point in 2007, for a decrease of 17 percent. Rapes are also down, with seven so far this year, compared with eight at this point last year, for a drop of 12.5 percent, year to date. Grand larcenies have also declined, with 77 so far this year, compared with 87 at this point in 2007, for a drop of 11.4 percent. Most subcategories of grand larceny are down, said Harris, with the exception of identity theft. “We have to look at that,” he noted, adding, “A lot of that is education. People have to shred. We have dumpster divers, people going into garbage cans and going through them. You have to guard your identity.” Finally, murders are flat. There have been none so far this year, and there were none at this point, in 2007. CB 14 is located at 810 East 16th Street.
