BY ANGELA MATUA
Crime increased in the 106th Precinct over the last four weeks, with robberies and car thefts being mostly responsible for the slight uptick.
Deputy Inspector Jeffrey Schiff, the precinct’s commanding officer, said at Wednesday’s 106th Precinct Community Council meeting that the command is up 14 crimes in the last 28 days and that robberies, specifically in South Ozone Park, have been a problem.
According to Schiff, many of the victims and suspects in the robberies were minors. More than 50 percent of the victims in the “youth-on-youth” robberies knew the people who robbed them, he said. Schiff said phones are the most popular items being stolen and that robbers force their victims to disable any tracking device on the phone.
“It starts off as a bullying factor and then turns into a robbery,” Schiff said.
If this problem continues to exist, Schiff and the precinct will look to visit the schools in the 106th Precinct’s jurisdiction to discourage bullying.
The two perpetrators who police believe were most responsible for the robberies were caught on Wednesday, and officials are looking to tack on additional robbery charges.
The 106th Precinct also has the most reported stolen cars in the city, according to Schiff, and the problem has been hard to stop because the crime is not rampant in any particular neighborhood.
The 102nd and 105th precincts also saw an increase in car thefts, making this a trend in southeast Queens.
There were 121 stolen cars reported last month and 90 cars were recovered in the 106th Precinct’s command. Schiff said he thinks this problem may be tied to fraud, as individuals who cannot afford to pay the lease on high-end cars may end up dumping them and reporting them as stolen.
Capt. John Sanford, of Highway District 3, attended the meeting to update the community on a plan to combat the large amount of ATVs and dirt bikes illegally driven in the precinct’s command.
“It’s very difficult for us to combat because I can’t in good conscience ask my guys to chase these people when they’re doing this behavior because it’s putting you at risk, it’s putting them at risk and it’s putting my guys at risk,” Sanford said.
Sanford said his department analyzes 911 calls and tries to find patterns in problem areas.
Highway Patrol 3 has confiscated 2 quads and 15 dirt bikes and has also handed out 43 summonses.
Police Officers Daniel Rivera and Mark Shackel also received Cop of the Month honors at the meeting for apprehending a suspect who robbed a Metro PCS store on Rockaway Boulevard in Ozone Park.
According to Schiff, the officers were called to the scene after an employee hit a panic button in the store when he became suspicious of the suspect. The perpetrator fired a round into the store and duct taped the employee in a back room before police arrived.
It took three minutes for officers to restrain the perpetrator and the suspect was shown in a video trying desperately to escape.
“While this may be three minutes, it’s a lifetime when you’re fighting for your life,” Schiff said.
Schiff and Precinct Council President Frank Dardani presented the officers with plaques donated by the Ridgewood Times.
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