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Felony crime down 22%

Felony crime down 22%

While everyone is crying the blues over the fiscal downturn, cops from the 66th Precinct are celebrating another downturn — a criminal one.

Recently released NYPD statistics show that felony crime in Borough Park and Kensington have dropped by 22 percent.

Deputy Inspector Peter DiBlasio, the commanding officer of the 66th Precinct, told members of the 66th Precinct Community Council that robberies in the command have dropped drastically since the beginning of the year.

“Things are going pretty well right now,” DiBlasio told council members during the January meeting.

Burglaries were also down as well, by nearly four percent, statistics show.

The only crime increase was in assaults, which doubled in January.

Statistics show that there were a dozen attacks this past January. In January 2008, six assaults had taken place.

Officials said that in nearly all of the assaults that took place in the precinct, the assailant knew their victim.

When 2008 came to a close, the 66th Precinct was applauding a 3.8 reduction in felony crime with impressive shortfalls in rape reports, grand larceny reports — which fell by thirteen percent — and car thefts, which dropped by eight percent.

Robberies in Borough Park and Kensington were up, however, by nearly six percent.

Officials said that as of December 28, 2008, 219 robberies had been investigated in the 66th Precinct.

At the same time in 2007, 207 robberies had taken place.

Cops said that most of the robberies were teen on teen hold ups involving personal electronic items like cell phones and iPods.

Burglaries in the command were also up in 2008, by nearly four percent (from 352 to 365), statistics show.

But the tone of last month’s 66th Precinct Community Council meeting, DiBlasio did not delve into crime statistics, knowing full well that “one crime is one crime too many.”

Instead, the meeting focused on community concerns, such as double parking and graffiti.

While crime is dropping in the community, DiBlasio said that his officers are not resting on their laurels and are tackling every community concern addressed to them.