January 12, 2008: Vol. 31, No. 2

Park Slope’s top cop is dismissing rumors that muggers have been targeting women walking by themselves.

Deputy Inspector John Argenziano, commanding officer of the 78th Precinct, said there were five more robberies in December compared to the year before, but women were not disproportionately targeted.

“Were there woman robbed? Yes,” said Argenziano. “But of 17 robberies, five victims were women and 10 were men. … So women are not being targeted.”

His statements contradict the rumors of a crime spree fanned by local bloggers and an e-mail from Ashkan Sahihi, whose wife was mugged on New Year’s Day.

According to the police report, two men followed his wife as she was walking south on Eighth Avenue near Second Street, grabbing her, snatching her purse, and fleeing.

She lost her iPhone, iPod, credit cards and $150. She was physically unharmed, but emotionally distraught. Her husband later told The Brooklyn Paper that he sent the e-mail to alert his neighbors to the danger.

“I decided, no way man, this is not happening here,” said Sahihi on Wednesday. “This is a community, and the response has been incredibly supportive.”

Sahihi’s story was echoed by an anonymous tipster, who told Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn that she was mugged on Sunday night at around 10:30.

The good news is that the perp in that case was caught, Argenziano said: “Honor among thieves — he turned in his friend. Now we’re doing line-ups.”

For his part, Sahihi said he was keeping a keen eye on his daughters: “We’re more careful. We have a 13-year-old and [the] gradual expansion of her freedom has stopped somewhat. It jolts, it surely does.”

©2008 The Brooklyn Paper