Quality-of-life issues continue to be a large concern for residents residing in the 102nd Precinct, NYPD Commanding Officer Jeremy Kivlin announced during the Community Board 9 meeting held on Tuesday night, Sept. 13.
The 102nd Precinct covers a portion of central Queens containing Kew Gardens, Richmond Hill East, Richmond Hill, Woodhaven and the northern part of Ozone Park.
According to Kivlin, motorcycles, dirt bikes, loud house parties, abandoned vehicles, illegal license plates and overnight commercial parking are some of the complaints the precinct has received this summer. Kivlin said that the NYPD will continue to work on those issues with the help of the community.
As motorcycles and dirt bikes are a problem citywide causing a nuisance disrupting neighborhoods, Kivlin says the 102nd Precinct has taken 114 bikes off the streets.
“It’s tough to combat these because they’re hard to stop. We have to weigh the public’s safety in chasing them, and we have been talking to Queens South Borough Patrol about this and letting officers know the community wants these vehicles off the street,” Kivlin said.
The precinct has also towed more than 200 illegally registered vehicles, which is a 100% increase from last year, according to Kivlin.
In tackling the overnight commercial parking of tractor-trailers in residential areas, Kivlin said it is a concern for the precinct, as they have issued a total of 700 summonses for the year and have conducted operations to tow trucks from the street.
“We are looking to get trucks off the streets in the coming months. As for noise complaints, especially house parties, I think we can do things better,” Kivlin said. “We will be more proactive next summer identifying houses with loud parties that are a nuisance to neighbors.”
While car thefts in the area have decreased to 25% this year, Kivlin said they’re concerned about the spike in burglaries and robberies within the precinct.
“My officers are well aware of the conditions and issues with robberies. We look at the zones and deployment of officers, and we are cutting into it a little bit more. There’s work to be done, and we will continue to get robbery and burglary numbers down.”
The 102nd Precinct has experienced a 38.3% increase in reported major crimes this year to date, according to recent crime stats released by the NYPD.
According to the data, the precinct has seen a 79% increase in robberies, 36% in burglaries, 52.4% in grand larceny and 6.8% in grand larceny auto incidents.
On a positive note, according to Kivlin, there have been no reported shootings in over 56 days.
“The 102 had seen violence recently, but we have been able to do well recently. We use intelligence to stop the violence before it happens,” Kivlin said.
Going into next year, Kivlin says there will be a larger presence of police officers at complaint locations with the help of community members.
