Robberies have spiked in the 84th Precinct, and an executive officer there vowed this week that cops are taking this “tremendous” increase seriously.
Over the past month, there has been a staggering 100 percent jump in robberies, according to Captain Vanessa Kight, who said there have been 16 incidents reported in the past 28 days alone, ending Feb. 14.
Speaking at the 84th Precinct Community Council on Feb. 16, Kight admitted that the robberies are the most “problematic” of the precinct’s seven major crime categories.
Kight said a lone suspect — a black man in his 40s with a scar on his face and gold front teeth — is suspected to have committed at least four of the robberies. In each case, Kight said, the man either displayed a gun, or claims to have a gun. He then proceeded to force the victims to withdraw money from an ATM — but has made sure to stay back just far enough so that he is not captured on a bank’s security camera. “He is very smart,” Kight said.
She said that Captain Mark DiPaolo, the commanding officer of the precinct, has already deployed extra cops in the vicinity of Fulton Street, where at the four recent incidents were reported.
The precinct, which encompasses Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, Vinegar Hill and DUMBO is also receiving the support of the borough command, which has deployed an extra 20 or so cops on foot patrol, Kight said. “I believe that’s working and helping,” she said, adding that cops are “looking forward to making an arrest.”
DiPaolo is on vacation, and Kight, who transferred to the precinct last month from the nearby 88th Precinct, delivered the monthly crime statistics in his absence.
Along with robberies, felonious assaults are also on the rise, with 12 reported in the past 28 days, marking a 71 percent jump over last year. Kight said that the vast majority of the incidents, 10, involved attacks on court officers at the nearby criminal court on Schermerhorn Street. In one recent melee, four people were arrested after injuring seven court officers, she noted. “That’s why the numbers are so high.” The other two assaults involved school safety officers, she added.
But not all the data is discouraging. Burglaries are down 85 percent, grand larcenies have fallen 29 percent, and car thefts have dropped 20 percent, according to Kight. So far, there has been one rape reported, and no murders.
Kight, responding to a recent headline about a cop from the 81st Precinct in Bedford Stuyvesant who alleged that his bosses manipulated crime stats by downgrading certain crimes and ignoring others, said that the data from the 84th Precinct is kosher. She said if anyone is unsure how to classify an incident, the matter is referred to a police unit outside the precinct. In her short time at the precinct, the 29-year police veteran said, “I have seen crimes upped to felony status. You can be confident these numbers are correct.”
