By Adam Bermudez
The good news is that murders and rapes are down in the 49th Precinct. The bad news is that robberies and instances of grand larceny are up.
Since the beginning of the year, as of February 24, there have been 60 robberies, up 81.8% from the amount of robberies at the same time last year.
While grand larcenies are up only 8.3% since the beginning of the year, with 78 reported instances, there were 11 alone during the week of February 18-24, while there were only 5 during the same period last year.
As in other Bronx precincts such as the bordering 45th Precinct, a rise in crime has been met with civic dialogue. Councilman Jimmy Vacca has expressed concern over the lack of distribution of new police officers to northeast Bronx precincts and has spoken to Bronx Borough Commanding Officer Chief Thomas Purtell about the issue.
