Sex crimes are soaring in Williamsburg’s 90th Precinct this year with 16 rapes reported — quadruple the number over the same period last year.
The incidents are “spread all over the place,” said a 90th Precinct cop. In most cases, the victim knew her attacker.
That was the case on Aug. 20, when an assailant forced himself onto a 24-year-old woman in a Throop Avenue playground.
The victim was near Whipple Street at 3 pm when a bald man wearing black work boots, blue shorts and a white tank top attacked her, telling her, “If you tell the cops, I’m gonna kill you.”
Then he allegedly pushed her to the ground, raped her and ran away.
The suspect remains at large, but the victim told police that she knows who he is.
But in many cases, the victim and the rapist did not know each other.
On March 11, a thug raped a woman in her Flushing Avenue apartment. The victim had left the building near Humboldt Street just after 8 am, but the perp grabbed her and forced her back into her apartment.
The rise in rapes and sexual misdermeanors is not as concerning as the number suggest, said Councilwoman Diana Reyna (D–Williamsburg).
“The rise in reported rape doesn’t necessarily mean that they are occurring more frequently,” she said. “It suggests that those who are being assaulted are coming forward. The NYPD aims to increase the confidence of victims so they feel empowered to inform — we must continue to encourage victims of sexual assault to step forward.”
The higher rape numbers also stand out against a drop in other major crimes.
So far this year there were 209 robberies, 11 fewer robberies than last year, and 167 burglaries, about 100 fewer than last year.
And there was a modest increase in assaults, as police investigated 137 this year compared with 127 last year.