By Howard Koplowitz
Two killings committed within the Redfern Houses in Far Rockaway contributed to a 150 percent surge in murders in the 101st Precinct between 2007 and 2008, police statistics showed.
The number of homicides in the precinct, which covers the eastern end of the Rockaways, jumped to 10 in 2008 from four slayings in 2007.
Two of the 10 murders occurred in and around Redfern within two days of each other.
On May 18, 15−year−old Brandon Bethea was killed by a stray bullet as she was walking in the Redfern courtyard with a friend early in the morning. The next day 16−year−old Tyrese Johnson was shot and killed near the housing project.
The murders led to a visit by Police Commissioner Ray Kelly to Redfern, where he, state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D−St. Albans) and City Councilman James Sanders (D−Laurelton) unveiled a plan to stem the violence.
“We see a real problem in the 101,” Sanders said in a phone interview Monday. “I think the situation in the 101 needs to be looked at. I think the problems in the 101 are multi−fold. We don’t have enough police out here.”
Sanders surmised that most of the murders were committed using illegal guns.
“The wisest thing is to take these illegal guns off the street,” he said.
While murders were up, overall crime registered a slight drop.
There were 670 criminal incidents for the seven major crime categories — murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, grand larceny and car thefts — in 2008 and 691 in 2007, a 3.04 percent decline.
Rapes in the precinct were cut by a quarter, from 16 in 2007 to 12 in 2008.
Besides murders, the 101st also saw increases in robberies and assaults, albeit by less than 5 percent.
There were 143 robberies in 2007 and 149 in 2008, a 4.2 percent increase.
Assaults were up 2.2 percent. There were 179 assaults in 2007 compared to 183 in 2008.
Burglaries remained unchanged from 2007 to 2008, with 110 reported in both years.
The 101st also had decreases in grand larcenies and car thefts.
Grand larcenies dropped by 12.7 percent, from 173 in 2008 to 151 in 2007.
Car thefts recorded the second−largest drop after rape. There were 66 reports of stolen cars in the 101st in 2007 and 55 in 2008, a 16.6 percent decline.
Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e−mail at hkoplowitz@timesledger.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 173.
