By Anna Gustafson
The number of major index crimes fell nearly 20 percent overall in 2009 since the previous year, though the number of rapes and murders rose this year in Forest Hills and Rego Park, according to year-end statistics from the 112th Precinct.
There was a total of 846 major index crimes reported in the precinct in 2009, compared to 1,051 in 2008.
There were two homicides and six rapes in the 112th Precinct in 2009, an increase from the one murder and three rapes last year, city statistics show. Other major index crimes decreased in 2009, including robbery, felony assault, burglary and grand larceny.
There were 115 robberies in 2009, a 16.7 percent drop from the 138 robberies in 2008. The precinct reported 62 felony assaults in 2009, which represented a 16.2 percent drop from the 74 in 2008. The number of grand larcenies totaled 396 in 2009, a 23 percent decrease from the 514 in 2008.
Homicides in the city have dropped dramatically over the past years, but murders in the 112th have remained relatively the same over the past decade. There were seven homicides in 1990, but since then the precinct has seen about one or two murders a year.
The number of rapes had dropped in the 112th, going from nine in 1990 to three last year, though rapes increased again this year.
Forest Hills residents have been rocked by high-profile crimes in recent years, including Mazoltuv Borukhova hiring her distant uncle to kill her estranged husband, Daniel Malakov, in front of their then-6-year-old daughter at a Forest Hills playground.
This year, Forest Hills resident Michael Pecora was murdered in his home in June, police said.
Alexys Fermaintt of Holyoke, Mass., admitted to stabbing Pecora four times June 17, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. Pecora and Fermaintt had met online and had disagreed over the amount of money Pecora was going to pay Fermaintt for sex, according to the DA.
Citywide, major felony crimes have declined for 19 years, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said last week. There were 461 murders as of last week in the city, compared to 516 last year. The city is expected to have fewer homicides in 2009 than any other year since comparable records were kept beginning in 1963.
“The numbers are staggering,” Bloomberg said. “Since 2001, we’ve driven murder down by 29 percent, rape down by 38 percent, robbery down by 34 percent and the list goes on.”
Reach reporter Anna Gustafson by e-mail at agustafson@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 174.
