Cops came to DUMBO last week to tell residents and business owners how to protect themselves against the mini-crime wave that has hit the neighborhood since this summer, but a group of locals is putting pressure on the police to do more to stop it.
Fashion photographer Peter Sunwoo founded DUMBOwatch last month to, he says, “show the 84th Precinct that the neighborhood is concerned about crime and that we want more policing in the area.”
So far, the neighborhood is getting just that. Since the crime wave hit in July, the NYPD has stepped up patrolling in DUMBO, filling the neighborhood between the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges with cops on foot, in patrol cars and cruising around in Cushman scooters.
In spite of an increased police presence in the neighborhood (pictured), the burglaries have continued. An oft-targeted office building on Washington Street was robbed yet again last weekend (see page 4).
That follows an Oct. 7 robbery at a Jay Street clothing boutique, an Oct. 10 burglary in a Plymouth Street apartment, an Oct. 15 burglary on Washington Street and an Oct. 18 burglary at a Main Street building between Front and Water streets.
The burglaries prompted the DUMBO Improvement District to host the crime prevention forum last week at Rice, a Thai restaurant on Washington Street.
“The purpose was to educate the public about how to protect themselves,” said Improvement District Executive Director Tucker Reed.
“But it became a forum about how the police can do a better job of addressing concerns.”
