All Brooklyn news
Neighborhood Map
Bay Ridge
  • Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights
Brooklyn Heights
  • Downtown, DUMBO
Carroll Gardens
  • Cobble Hill, Red Hook, Boerum Hill
Fort Greene
  • Clinton Hill, Crown Heights
North Brooklyn
  • Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick
Park Slope
  • Prospect Heights, Windsor Terrace, Greenwood Heights
GO Brooklyn
Dining Guide
Where to GO
Events calendar
Classifieds
The Brooklyn Wire
Not Just Nets
Police Blotter
Perspective
Parenting
Politics
Transit
Podcasts
Brooklyn Cyclones
Special sections
About The Paper
Mobile site
Twitter
Facebook
RSS Feeds

Crime is still crazy bad in Fort Greene

By Alfred Ng
The Brooklyn Paper

Tools

Print this story
Facebook this
Tweet this
Digg this
Del.icio.us

88th Precinct

Fort Greene–Clinton Hill

Pathmark pilfers

There were at least two crimes at the Pathmark on Atlantic Avenue last week:

• On Oct. 29, a victim was at the cash register in the grocery store between S. Elliott and Fort Greene places at 6:30 pm. She put her wallet down to retrieve the rest of her items from her cart when the thief sneaked off with the billfold, which contained more than $200.

• Two days later, a would-be robber cut his way out of the store after security guards caught him allegedly shoplifting at 7:30 pm. He pulled a knife and slashed at the guards until he got away, but cops said they collared their man two days later.

Phone fight

Two thugs stole a woman’s iPhone on Oct. 31 on Willoughby Avenue.

The victim was near Carlton Avenue at 4:21 pm when the thief tapped her shoulder. With the iPhone owner distracted, the thief tried to snatch the device, setting off a tug-of-war. The thief shoved the woman to the ground, and a second thug came in, dragging her legs the opposite direction until the first thief got away.

Train pain

Three thugs jumped a man on an A train on Nov. 1.

Marilyn Manning Gardening

The victim was on the Queens-bound train at 3:17 am when he was approached by a trio of thieves as the train passed the Hoyt-Schemerhorn stop.

“You gonna get it now,” one thief threatened before he and his posse began pummeling the victim, leaving him with a cut eye, a swollen cheek and a busted lip.

The thugs took $130 and a cellphone before the victim escaped at the Lafayette Avenue stop.

Purse snatch

A heartless thief snatched the purse of an 80-year-old woman on Atlantic Avenue on Nov. 1.

The senior was near S. Oxford Street at 4:55 pm when the robber sneaked up from behind, grabbed the purse and dashed off, taking a debit card and a $90 Metrocard.

Trio of thieves

Three thugs robbed a man on Myrtle Avenue on Nov. 2.

The victim was near N. Portland Avenue at around 7:25 am when he was approached from behind by three men all dressed in hoodies and ski-masks.

“Give me your f—king money before I stick you!” one thief said, prompting the victim to hand over $550.

Auto intruder

A thief stole a man’s bag on Nov. 2 on Flatbush Avenue.

The man left his bag in a friend’s car between St. Marks Avenue and Prospect Place at 5:50 pm. When he returned at 7:25 pm, the bag was missing.

Before he could cancel the cards, the victim was told that the thief had purchased a $79 Metrocard.

Punch-out

A teen was punched on S. Elliott Place on Nov. 2.

The 14-year-old victim was hanging out with his friends at 5 pm near Hanson Place when a jerk walked up and punched him in the face. The boy’s jaw was broken in two places and taken to the hospital.

Time warped

At least two kids had their iPods stolen in the same dastardly fashion last week:

• A thief swiped the music player from a student on Fort Greene Place on Nov. 3 when the kid was standing outside Brooklyn Technical HS between DeKalb and Lafayette avenues. The stranger approached and asked the time, prompting the teenager to pull out his iPod to check — it was 7:17 pm. That’s when the thief pulled out a black firearm, and said, “Give me all your stuff.”

Cops say they arrested the perp later.

• Three days later, a thief stole a teen’s iPod in Fort Greene Park — also with a ruse about checking the time. In this case, the crime, the request for information and the pistol were the same. Only the time of day was different. It was 3:29 pm.

Trained thieves

Two thieves took a man’s iPhone on the G train on Nov. 4.

The victim said that she was waiting for the Brooklyn local at Fulton Street and Lafayette Avenue at 1:29 pm when two men approached and took the iPhone from her hands and punched her in the head and face.

Cops say they caught one suspect quickly.

— Alfred Ng

To reach reporter Kate Briquelet, e-mail him at newsroom@cnglocal.com or call (718) 260-4506.

©2011 Community Newspaper Group

←Bay Ridge: The Champagne Diet! New book says you can drink bubbly and get fit
→Carroll Gardens: Another iPhone theft

Reader Feedback

Skelltell from Fort greene says:
Can you guys come up with a different headline. You recycle the same one every week for the fort Greene blotter.
Nov. 8, 2011, 6:30 am
anaabdul from Cobble Hill says:
Crime is crazy bad everywhere, not just where black people live.
Nov. 8, 2011, 7 am
LatinonVanderbilt from Fort Greene says:
Thank you anaabdul. These paranoia creating crime reports are ridiculous!
Nov. 8, 2011, 7:42 am
Dennis sinneD from Williamsburg says:
I agree--boo to the Brooklyn Paper's sensationalism and veiled racism. Where are they when criminal mischief is rampant in Williamsburg? Are they only concerned that Apple's inventory is shifting in Ft. Greene? Where are they as real estate development and rent inflation passes without review of widespread abuses of 'variance' and 'eminent domain'? And that, as AnaAbdul points out, they seem only concerned when the criminals are implied to be persons of color? For shame!

Thank you for commenting on these threads. We citizens can correct here where the Brooklyn Paper lacks critical review.
Nov. 8, 2011, 8:08 am
liz from clinton hill says:
Whatever, its working. This scares me! :(
Nov. 8, 2011, 8:19 am
liz from clinton hill says:
Whatever, its working. This scares me! :(
Nov. 8, 2011, 8:20 am
Dennis sinneD from Williamsburg says:
You see, Liz, you got the unfortunate point--how effective are these crime blotters? Are they meant to resolve criminal cases? Of course not! They are sensationalism through and through. They have two purposes: first, to sell papers or accrue "views," second to so ridiculously demonize a community and terrify outside perceptions thereof that increase police activity is called for that, as Williamsburg has proven, does not necessarily decrease or deter crime but most certainly is meant to cow the soon-to-be-gentrified and embolden the agents of gentrification. Of course, ask any NYPD official and they'll affirm a blotter, and why not? Any little bit helps, right? But a crime blotter, especially of the type that Brooklyn Paper publishes, meets the bare minimum requirement of passing on information to the larger public that generates chatter that eventually finds itself to someone who can step forward and inform the police on any particular case. What useful information is in any of this to help any particular case, except Ipods and Iphones seem to be possessed by white people and sought after by persons of color?

We don't have telling details, except, usually, for the fact that the perpetrators' blackness and the victims' whiteness must always be reported or at least strongly implied as opportunity presents itself where responsible journalism cannot. None of this is meant to do anything but to stoke fear and racism in readers.
Nov. 8, 2011, 8:50 am
John from Brooklyn says:
Where in the article does it mention the perpetrator's race?
You're making a mountain out of a non-existent molehill.
Nov. 8, 2011, 10:07 am
Dennis sinneD from Williamsburg says:
If "crime" is a mole-hill, how it is perpetrated, how it is suffered and endured, how it tears apart communities and how it fattens pockets and corrupts thinking, then you're clueless. Open your eyes.

Brooklyn Paper frequently refers to race when the perpetrators are black or persons of color and the victims are white. Absent this information, or that the perpetrators are white, the Brooklyn Paper conspicuously falls silent.

And, given that the purpose of a crime blotter is not simply to specifically address the details of a crime but its location [often to impugn], then the demographics of Ft. Greene most certainly are an issue.

Persons like you amaze me, given that you are clearly projecting: whereas you're comfortable with the many mountainous mole-hills propped up by Brooklyn Paper, we hear not a peep from you. Someone points to the racial implications, the omitted but nevertheless conspicuous details in a "crime blotter", then suddenly you need to be the flattener of mountains.

Please.
Nov. 8, 2011, 10:28 am
Dennis sinneD from Williamsburg says:
It's like the agents of gentrification in Williamsburg. When they talk about crime, they say things like "The Southside was so terrifying; proto-Al Qaeda lurking behind every corner!" And you say, "Oh, you mean the Puerto Ricans?" "No! No! I am not a racist, my best friend is Puerto Rican, and from the Southside!" "Oh, I see, then your friend must be the criminal, because when we talk about the Southside of Williamsburg in the period of the gentrification, we specifically mean the Puerto Ricans, because, who else could you possibly mean?"
Nov. 8, 2011, 10:31 am
gimme from around says:
iz alwayz iPhone poachin' season in da hood y'all
Nov. 8, 2011, 4:43 pm
tmp from bedstuy says:
didn't know iPhone theft was so rampant... Its so low brow to me.
Nov. 8, 2011, 4:59 pm
Dennis sinneD from Williamsburg says:
Makes perfect sense, when you think that there is little that is more social these days. These kids don't always need these Iphones--sometimes the reasons for the theft are deeper, like that the IPhone is a conspicuous symbol for 'us.'

Maybe the generation after us is contemptuous. Maybe they've got reasons for their contempt. It's wrong to mug people for their ridiculous Iphones, but somehow I think we're all misunderstanding what's rising in all of us--to our detriment.
Nov. 8, 2011, 6:05 pm
Ant from Williamsburg/Greenpoint Border says:
Heading off to Fort Greene right now. Hope I don't get victimized. That's life though. We could just sit at home and complain on the internet, but where's the fun in that?

G train to Clinton Washington. Woohoo!
Nov. 8, 2011, 7:11 pm
Duff from Columbia Heights says:
Wow Dennis man stinking write your own column, or just do an internship. Now since I'm off my soapbox. The Brooklyn Paper is very open, letting me make up my own mind, just the way I like to! Continue on BP!
Nov. 8, 2011, 10:19 pm
Gersh from Editor says:
I appreciate all your comments. But for the record, we cover only eight precincts in North and Brownstone Brooklyn, plus Bay Ridge. The crime reports we see in the 88th Precinct tend to have far more violence than the others we see.

Headlines exist to attract eyes to our stories. And most of the time — as in this case — they are even accurate, too.

GERSH KUNTZMAN
Editor
The Brooklyn Paper
Nov. 8, 2011, 11:11 pm
manhatposeur from manhat says:
Tear down the projects and disperse the occupants to various smaller public housing units. Havinga large concentration of criminalized youth is a bad thing.
Nov. 9, 2011, 7:47 am
Dennis sinneD from Williamsburg says:
Excuse me Duff from Columbia Heights, if you're "free" to let "someone else" help you make up your own mind, then I am, also. I am making up my own mind, and I have made up to write wherever I damn please whenever I damn please as opportunities allow. So please, don't go down the road of hypocrisy, complaining about others' freedoms while chest-thumping your own.

And this is my column. The PUBLIC threads. Free, and I don't get paid for them. My opinion is unadulterated, and I'm not trying to sensationalize crime [even when crime may be accurate they can be sensationalized and exploited for profit, as Kuntzman attempts to explain, "Headlines exist to attract eyes to our stories."

The solution here is to do away with crime blotters--instead, write legitimate "crime journalism," sort of the type the NY Times publishes, with reports of crime AND analysis, not hysteria. Have Brooklyn Paper hire some kid out of John Jay outright, or a criminologist. But pushing headlines that make it appear pogroms are afoot when IPhones are, that's yellow journalism, irrespective of Mr. Kuntzman's gracious appearance.
Nov. 9, 2011, 7:53 am
Ant from Williamsburg/Greenpoint Border says:
I made it back from Fort Greene last night unscathed! Shocking I know..

Btw, my hoods' crime blotters seem worse than FG. Also, seems a little less racist (thanks for that part).
Nov. 9, 2011, 10:37 am
Williamsburg from Dennis says:
Also, since the Brooklyn Paper is all about reporting on the crime [or the perception thereof], I don't recall if they reported on this:
http://gothamist.com/2011/09/21/video_nitrous_oxide_fueled_fans_ter.php

Hundreds of kids "whipping," or huffing nitrous oxide fuel. Non-violent, but still, drugs.

Can someone, possibly Mr. Kuntzman, refresh my memory as to when Brooklyn Paper reported on these crimes?
Nov. 9, 2011, 11:44 am
Williamsburg from Dennis says:
Here is the kind of article a true crime journalist would possibly reference or even piggyback on if we were going to get down to the root causes of crime, instead of attracting eyes with headlines:
http://gothamist.com/2011/11/09/white_and_native_american_kids_drin.php

What is this about? Well, the mass amounts of drugs circulated by white youth, channeled from the college campus onto the ghetto, that pumps up the font-size and hysteria-bladder of the crime blotters in venues like Brooklyn Paper.
Nov. 9, 2011, 11:48 am
Williamsburg from Dennis says:
And yet another article that that prospective Brooklyn Paper crime journalist may want to review, given that previously on another Ft. Greene centered thread, and in other locations, I've been fortunate to have intelligent conversations with rational persons about how police conduct affects but escapes public consciousness. But this one will make you laugh about all the nonsense you've always thought about "blight" and "crime" and what is it about certain neighborhoods that give you the impression of "being criminal" without having met or known a person from there:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/07/former-nypd-ousted-as-pro_n_1080437.html?ref=new-york&ir=New York
Nov. 9, 2011, 3:58 pm
Fort Greene Association from Fort Greene says:
Please come out to the Fort Greene Association's upcoming Neighborhood Mixer & Meeting: Shinning the Spotlight on public safety. Visit http://on.fb.me/qSUMqQ for meeting details and to RSVP.
Nov. 11, 2011, 5:12 am
MR from Ft. Greene says:
This saddens me. I understand times are tough, but that is no excuse.

The 88th needs to step it up. DUH! it's High School Kids and Jr. HS kids, Gangs.

SET UP A STING!!!!!!
Nov. 11, 2011, 2:08 pm
Victim from Ft. greene says:
I was the victim on November 4th, and I want to correct the information.

I am indeed a woman, and it was 2 high school kids that TRIED to rob me, I never lost my phone although the cop that helped me (no one else on the G even bothered while it was stopped in the station). That being said, don't ever play with your phone at that stop, lesson learned.
Nov. 14, 2011, 7:48 pm
HELEN VAN PATTERSON PATTEN from FRENCH QUARTER says:
Is this a New Orleans blog?
Feb. 20, 4:55 pm

Enter your comment below

By submitting this comment, you agree to the following terms:

You agree that you, and not BrooklynPaper.com or its affiliates, are fully responsible for the content that you post. You agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening or sexually-oriented material or any material that may violate applicable law; doing so may lead to the removal of your post and to your being permanently banned from posting to the site. You grant to BrooklynPaper.com the royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual and fully sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such content in whole or in part world-wide and to incorporate it in other works in any form, media or technology now known or later developed.

First name
Last name
Your neighborhood
Email address
Daytime phone

Your letter must be signed and include all of the information requested above. (Only your name and neighborhood are published with the letter.) Letters should be as brief as possible; while they may discuss any topic of interest to our readers, priority will be given to letters that relate to stories covered by The Brooklyn Paper.

Letters will be edited at the sole discretion of the editor, may be published in whole or part in any media, and upon publication become the property of The Brooklyn Paper. The earlier in the week you send your letter, the better.

Links