By Jenna Bagcal
The 111th Precinct based in Bayside is the safest its ever been, according to the command.
On Jan. 1, the precinct reported on Twitter that they were experiencing the “lowest recorded levels of crime ever” according to preliminary crime data compiled by the NYPD CompStat Unit.
“The 111th Precinct is happy to report that, in 2018, the 111th precinct reached the its lowest crime levels since we started recording precinct crime in 1970. Specifically, the 111th precinct recorded 678 ‘index’ crimes in 2018 versus 743 in 2017, resulting in a 8.7 percent drop in crime. The 111th precinct already experiences some of the lowest per capita crime rates in the city,” Captain John Hall said in an analysis published on Facebook on Jan. 3.
According to data, the 111th Precinct, which includes all or parts of Bayside, Douglaston, Little Neck, Auburndale, Hollis Hills and Fresh Meadows, neighborhoods covered by the precinct saw a decrease in five out of seven recorded types of criminal activity. The precinct also provided an analysis of each of the crime categories.
The 111th reported no murders in 2018 versus one in 2017. Robberies and burglaries were down by four in 2018, with the recorded numbers dropping from 39 to 35 and 167 to 163 respectively. Hall said that robberies with weapons declined in 2018 and none of the incidents involved a firearm, versus six incidents in 2017.
“Youth on youth” robbery incidents also declined from 13 in 2017 to five this year. The captain wrote that the incidents were “historically driven by school dismissals.”
“Our Neighborhood Policing team is in constant contact with staff at the major high schools and we have police officers assigned at Francis Lewis, Bayside, and Cardozo,” Hall wrote. “We often receive additional resources from Patrol Boro Queens North to assist with orderly dismissals.”
Grand larceny autos also dropped from 59 to 38 this year. The biggest change was in grand larcenies, or major thefts, which dropped from 416 in 2017 to 361 in 2018. Though the overall number went down, Hall reported that “unattended grand larcenies”, which includes mailbox fishing, rose significantly in 2018.
Unattended grand larcenies spiked 77.1 percent from 70 in 2017 to 124 in 2018. The precinct reported that they had surveillance videos of people stealing “large amounts of mail” from blue mailboxes throughout the precinct. Checks were subsequently washed, forged and cashed at various banks.
Hall reported that fishing incidents went down temporarily when the U.S. Postal Inspector installed “theft resistant” mailboxes in some areas, but have recently picked up again.
Rape and felony assault were all up this year from 2017 according to numbers reported by CompStat. Data showed that seven rapes and 74 felony assaults were reported in 2018 versus three rapes and 58 felony assaults the year before.
Hall attributed the crime drop to the Neighborhood Policing model that was implemented in March 2018.
“Neighborhood policing allowed us to police more purposefully,” wrote Captain Hall. “It resulted in increased patrols in the neighborhoods, better intelligence on past crimes, and, most importantly, increased participation by the community. This bolstered our overarching crime reduction strategy which is to detect and suppress crime committed by repeat offenders and crime committed at repeat locations.”
It was noted that the reported numbers are “preliminary and subject to further analysis and revision.”
For the precinct’s full crime analysis, visit their Facebook page.
