August 18, 2007: Vol. 30, No. 32

If you’re feeling safer in Williamsburg, there may be a good reason: Just-released crime statistics show that burglaries are down 50 percent.

Between Jan. 1 and Aug. 12, there were 191 burglaries in the confines of Williamsburg’s 90th Precinct — down from 380 over the same period last year.

All major crimes are down this year — robberies are down 7.1 percent, grand larceny is down 12.9 percent and car theft is down 17.2 percent — but no category saw as dramatic a free fall as burglary.

Like any good precinct commander, Deputy Inspector John Corbisiero credited his officers — specifically citing crime prevention officer Thomas Brown — for doing the hard work of pounding the pavement throughout Williamsburg and Bushwick.

“They go out there and teach the community about how to avoid becoming a crime victim,” Corbisiero told The Brooklyn Paper. “It could be as simple as remembering not to leave your laptop sitting next to a window.”

Williamsburg’s changing population was initially a challenge for the 90th Precinct, but “the hipsters” (as Corbisiero referred to the newcomers) now see the importance of working closely with cops.

Brown, for example, visits all new buildings in the precinct, both while they are under construction (to prevent job site crime) and after new tenants move in (to let residents know how to prevent and prosecute crime).

“I work with the assistant district attorney on every case because we want to see these guys off the street for a long time — which reduces crime, too,” Corbisiero said.

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper