By COLlive reporter
Overexaggerated or underreported?
Jewish store owners and residents are pointing to numerous incidents of crimes being committed in the Crown Heights neighborhood over the past week as a worrying indication of a spike.
In conversations with COLlive.com, a few of them reported an electric scooter stolen in a store in plain sight, a cellphone and iPad stolen from the checkout counter at a store on Kingston Avenue, a resident attacked by a group of thugs with sticks, and another threatened by a man who appeared to be mentally ill.
This is in addition to the ongoing theft of delivery packages that are regularly stolen from the front doors and courtyards of homes in the neighborhood.
“Crimes that are called petty crimes such as car break-ins, parcel theft and property damage almost always go unreported,” said one resident who asked to remain unnamed.
He said the immense volume of these incidents and their effect on the quality of life of residents, has become an important issue for many residents.
He called on fellow residents to report all crimes, no matter how small, to the police. “The police will not act until there is pressure put on them, and the way to do that is by making police reports for every single crime,” he said.
He suggested that if one is threatened, or witnesses a person trying the door handles of a car, or acting erratic and possibly dangerous, the police should be called.
“When the number of reports spikes, the police will then have to take action to make our community safe again,” they said.
Asked for comment, NYPD 71st Precinct Officer of Community Affairs Mike Baratta said that claims of a spike are not supported by the statistics that are being reported now versus 3 years ago, or 10 or 15 years ago.
“The 71st precinct for the year of 2021 has recorded the lowest amount of crime ever in its recorded history,” he told COLlive.com on Thursday. “We are down in nearly every single crime statistic for 2021 and there are more security cameras, cellphone videos and technology than ever.”
Baratta added, “We always encourage people to make reports if they are a victim of a crime, of course, we want crime properly reported so we can do our best to combat crime if and where it may spike.”
VIDEO: Brazen scooter thief in Kingston Ave. Shop
A democratic city, where all they want to do is defund the police.
they understand only harsh punishment
7 mitzvos Bnei Noach and a strong police force to enforce them.
I hate living here, and sometimes wonder why I stay. I think we should all just move to Florida
Insist on a report. Ask for a supervisor if the officer refuses to make a report. One way of keeping the numbers low is to persuade against making a report. Make sure you get a report number as well.
redefine crime like california did: anything $1000 an under does not count, and the statistics will go down
The NYPD are told to say crime is down. Everyone knows crime is not down. They just don’t do anything to process a crime scene or press charges. That’s the reason crime is down in their books. People are suffering and scared walking these streets. To say anything other than that is delusional thinking.
But not to liberals.
Due to the very obvious dangerous increase and uptick of in Crime affecting Crown Heights, those that can get involved to help out should. All our Young Chevra, Older Mature Working Bocherim & Yungerleit in Crown Heights should be highly encouraged to step up to the plate, to get involved a little & to be active to an extent in helping their community. Older Mature Working Bocherim & Yungerlait should really consider joining either Shmira or Shomrim. We can’t always rely on other people in our community to step up to the plate to helpout, But to actually lead by example… Read more »
People must be alert of their surroundings,perps take advantage of distraction.and parents teach your children it’s for their own safety
The police in CH don’t document what they don’t want to document. That’s well known at this point. And the law abiding are not treated as they are in normal neighborhoods. This trend of crimes, as well as the long history of crimes, needs to be widely publicized in order to get the swift and effective attention that is called for. Why keep it a secret??
Anyone arrested is released within an hour. No bail, just released. Police dont want to risk their lives just to have the criminal released immediately.
Someone was attacked in the subway yesterday and fell to the tracks.
He was attacked by a criminal who had done this 2x before and been released without bail