Crime rose very slightly in Brooklyn last month, according to the latest police statistics, driven by an increase in theft.
The rate of major felonies rose .2% year-over-year in the 28-day period from July 7 to Aug. 3, data show. That .2% increase comprised just five more crimes, 2,470, than were reported during the same period last year.
Despite the increase, rates of most violent crimes were down in Brooklyn last month. Murder dropped more than 53%, and rape and assault were down 9% and 8%, respectively.
Burglary also declined by 10% year-over-year.
But the rate of other theft rose. Robbery was up 4% year-over-year in July, while grand larceny was up 5% and grand larceny auto 10%. Rising rates of robbery and grand larceny were concentrated in the Brooklyn South patrol, stats show, which comprises 13 precincts from Park Slope to Coney Island.
In the 61st Precinct, which includes Gravesend, Sheepshead Bay, and Manhattan Beach, robbery jumped 100% year-over-year. In the 71st Precinct, in Crown Heights, Wingate, and Prospect Lefferts Gardens, robbery also rose 100%, and the precinct experienced a 129% rise in grand larceny and a 220% increase in GLA.
Vehicle thefts also spiked 125% in Bushwick’s 83rd Precinct and doubled in the 90th and 94th precincts in Greenpoint and Williamsburg.
Brooklyn’s spike in theft stood in contrast to citywide trends. During the 28-day period from July 7 to Aug. 3, robbery across the five boroughs was down 8.3% year-over-year, while grand larceny was down 3% and GLA 2.4%.
Shootings and transit crime decline
New York City saw a record-low number of shootings in July, according to the NYPD, and shootings have continued to drop for the first seven months of the year.
In Brooklyn, shootings were down 23% year-over-year from July 7 to Aug. 3, with 23 incidents reported compared to 30 during the same period last year. Year-to-date, shootings are down 17%.
“New York City just recorded the lowest number of shooting incidents and shooting victims ever for the first seven months of any year, while major crime continued to decline citywide,” said NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch, in a statement. “Excluding the two pandemic years, it was also the safest July in our subway system in recorded history.”
Per the NYPD, large-scale gang takedowns and the city’s Summer Violence Reduction Plan have helped bring down summertime shootings, assault, and robberies.
Still, a number of Brooklynites were killed or injured in shootings in July, including a 65-year-old woman who was shot in the thigh when a gunman opened fire on another target in Flatbush on July 13 and an 18-year-old who was shot in the leg in Ocean Hill on July 27. On Aug. 1, a 32-year-old was fatally shot in Downtown Brooklyn just hours after a bodega worker was stabbed and killed in East New York.
Transit crime was down 14% in Brooklyn, but traffic fatalities jumped by 250%, with seven people killed in crashes.
