With a 24-percent drop in burglaries over the past year, the 67th Precinct in East Flatbush is in pretty good shape.
So explained Inspector William Aubry during his last 67th Precinct Community Council meeting. Last week, officials at Patrol Borough Brooklyn South announced that Aubry, who was recently promoted to full inspector, was transferred to Queens to head up an NYPD Forensics division there.
On Friday, his replacement, Inspector Corey Pegues, took command of the Snyder Avenue stationhouse. Pegues is the first African-American to lead the East Flatbush stationhouse.
During the June 19 meeting, when no one knew that his departure was at hand, Aubry discussed crime trends and introduced those in attendance to their neighborhood beat officer – a practice that he began a few months ago.
Officials said that as of June 22, felony crime in the 67th Precinct has dropped by nearly eight percent.
The precinct has seen a 24 percent reduction in burglaries (from 241 in 2007 to 182 this year), a 36.5 percent drop in car thefts (from 189 to 120) and a 30 percent drop in homicides, from 10 to 7.
The precinct has seen a nearly 14 percent increase in robberies, from 196 in 2007 to 223 this year and an eight percent in felony assaults, from 169 to 183.
“We have a lot less police officers than we had two years ago,” Aubry explained to the council recently. “Yet we are still leading the city in crime reduction.”
“There’s a lot less crime out there, but we’re still going to continue to do what we need to do.”
One of the best ways to fight crime, Aubry explained, was to listen to the community’s concerns.
Aubry brought his beat officers to the meeting for the explicit purpose of making sure that residents knew who their neighborhood cops were and could feel comfortable about reaching out to them in the future.
“You’re our partners,” he told the council. “You play a great role in our success. Last year we had the lowest number of shootings we ever had. We got a lot of guns off the street, and we couldn’t have done it without your help.”
The 67th Precinct was one of 11 commands to receive a special unit citation during this year’s medal day at 1 Police Plaza.
Aubry accepted the award, which honored the precinct’s strides in crime reduction, as well as the increase in arrests.
