By Sadef A Kully
The 103rd Precinct in southeast Queens has had one shooting incident in the last 4 1/2 months and robbery crimes have shown a slight increase, Deputy Inspector John Cappelmann at the 103rd Precinct Community Council meeting Tuesday night.
The 103rd Precinct has jurisdiction over the downtown Jamaica Business District, Hollis Park Gardens, Hollis, Lakewood, and Jamaica neighborhoods in southeast Queens.
“If you told me this was possible last year and I would have said no way,” said Cappelmann, who came to the 103rd Precinct last year. “But it is and it happened, due to the hard work of the community and the officers.”
Crime in New York City is at a historical all time low: 328 killings were recorded in 2014, the lowest figure since 1963, when the NYPD began collecting statistics.
Although shooting incidents have gone down, there was slight uptick in robberies in the first two months of 2015. There were 21 robberies, up by one incident, compared to the same period last hear.
Cappelmann spoke about a carjacking pattern that has also affected the neighboring 105th and 113th Precincts, which have jurisdiction over different parts of southeast Queens.
“The detective squad is investigating,” he said. “We didn’t have issues for four to five days and then we had five carjackings one day,”
Cappelmann said that two men would approach a stopped vehicle from each side and show a firearm before taking the vehicle.
“The relationship with the community is improving, which wouldn’t be possible without community input and resources,” the deputy inspector said.
The 103rd Precinct is one of the few precincts chosen for the trial mentorship program where rookie police officers are trained with veteran officers. The mentorship program was created in response to the tense police and community relations in the area.
Cappelmann also mentioned that the 12 new police officers who came in last year were progressing smoothly with the mentorship program.
Reach Reporter Sadef Ali Kully by e-mail at skull
