There was a sea of blue at Terrace on the Park on Tuesday morning, as officers from northern Queens precincts heard a report from the Patrol Borough Queens North commander about overall crime last year and plans to keep crime down in 2016.
Assistant Chief Diana Pizzuti presented the SATCOM Queens North Year-End Review and 2016 Preview and remarked that Queens had a much safer year in 2015 than in years past, thanks to the hard work of the entire NYPD.
“The city is down almost 2 percent in crime,” Pizzuti said. “You see the big reductions in the area of burglaries [with] 1,700 fewer burglaries. You see slight reductions in felony assault, grand larceny and you see reductions in grand larceny auto.”
The city did see a slight uptick in the areas of murder, rape and robbery, recording 19, 84 and 362 more, respectively, in 2015 than in 2014.
“With the murder and robbery … I will say that in 2014, those were the record [lows] in those two categories,” Pizzuti said. “So despite being up, they were facing overall lows in the 22-year period.”
SATCOM Queens North division’s eight precincts — 104th, 108th, 109th, 110th, 111th, 112th, 114th and 115th — recorded an overall decrease in major index crimes in 2015, compared to 2014.
Queens North saw an 8.83 percent drop in crime for the year, with all eight precincts reporting reductions — and four of the precincts placing in the top 10 in crime reduction throughout the entire city. The 108th Precinct led the way in 2015, seeing a 13.81 percent reduction in the seven major index crimes.
With 2016 underway, the precincts are continuing their hard work in reducing crime.
Queens North is already down for crime the year in 2016, reporting 790 index crimes, compared to 844 in 2015, a difference of 54 crimes and a reduction of 6.4 percent.
This year will also bring some changes to the SATCOM Queens North precincts.
Captain Mark Wacther of the 104th Precinct announced that officers under his command will all be receiving smartphones to help better combat crime. The 109th Precinct plans to bring back the community beat cop in April, while the 111th Precinct will continue its outreach with the community, especially the schools, building on the success of 2015.
