What does up must come down, and after a slight increase in crime during the first week of the year, crime rates largely declined again in Brooklyn in the 28-day period from Dec. 18-Jan. 14, according to the most recent NYPD data.
When compared with the same time period last year, overall rates of the seven major felonies – murder, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, grand larceny, and grand larceny auto – decreased 3.69% in the Brooklyn South patrol and 3.49% in Brooklyn North, with 1,173 total incidents reported in Brooklyn South and 1,133 in Brooklyn North.
Reports of most major felonies were down in both patrols, with some exceptions. Robbery and grand larceny auto rose in both Brooklyn North and Brooklyn South, while Brooklyn North also saw a rise in felony assaults. The rate of murders in Brooklyn North remained flat, at four, when compared to the same 28-day period last year.
Some crimes decreased precipitously across the borough — burglaries decreased 25% in Brooklyn North and 4.2% in Brooklyn South, while reports of grand larceny dropped 19.1% in Brooklyn South and 11% in Brooklyn North. Murder was down 75% in Brooklyn South, from eight last year to two this year.
Brooklyn South also saw an 18% drop in shooting incidents, from 11 to nine, and a 7.7% decrease in transit crimes, from 13 to 12. The number of shootings reported in Brooklyn North was flat at 11, while transit crimes increased 15.4%, from 26 reported between Dec. 18-Jan 14 last year and 30 reported during the same time period this year.
Both patrols saw a significant increase in hate crimes — 11 incidents were reported in Brooklyn South, in a 175% increase from last year, while Brooklyn North saw a 500% rise, from two to 12.
Within the patrols, 11 of 23 NYPD precincts saw an increase in crime during the period — eight in Brooklyn South and three in Brooklyn North. The 62nd, 63rd, 66th, 67th, 68th, 69th, 72nd, 76th, 83rd, 84th, and 99th precincts all experienced an overall increase in crime. Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights, in the 68th Precinct, saw the most significant increase, at 39.71%, with 95 total crimes reported — compared to 68 during the same period last year.
The 66th Precinct, comprising Borough Park, Midwood, and Kensington, followed behind with a 24.68% increase in crime; while crime jumped 22.31% in Bushwick’s 83rd Precinct.
Large increases in those precincts largely followed borough-wide trends — the 66th and 83rd Precincts both saw rises in robberies, while assaults rose more than 17% in the 83rd Precinct and remained flat at 10 in the 68th Precinct. All three saw significant increases in grand larceny auto, or vehicle thefts.
Across Brooklyn, 16 precincts — the 60th, 62nd, 63rd, 66th, 68th, 69th, 71st, 72nd, 76th, 73rd, 75th, 79th, 83rd, 84th, 88th, and 90th — saw an increase in grand larceny auto. Robbery rose in 12 precincts, and assault increased in ten.
While rates of murder are down in Brooklyn and across the city, murder did increase in three precincts — the 69th, 75th, and 84th — between Dec. 18 and Jan. 14.
On Jan. 2, 15-year-old Javel Lawton was fatally shot in the 69th Precinct. A 35-year-old man was shot and killed inside Farragut Houses in the 84th Precinct on Jan. 7, according to the NYPD, and a 24-year-old woman was struck and killed by a vehicle during a reported domestic dispute in the 75th Precinct on Jan. 12. Late on Jan. 14, 45-year-old Richard Henderson was murdered on board a train in the 73rd Precinct after attempting to break up an argument.
