NYC TNB

[The Bobster]

3 killed, 2 hurt in spate of NYC shootings: cops

Three people were killed and two others wounded in separate shootings across the city on February 7, 2022.

nypost.com

3 killed, 2 hurt in spate of NYC shootings: cops​

By
Amanda Woods


February 8, 2022 9:30am
Updated

Three people are dead and two injured after a spree of shootings took place in New York on February 7, 2022. William C. Lopez/NYPOST

​

Three people were killed and two others wounded in separate shootings across the city Monday, authorities said.
An unidentified man was blasted in the chest around 11:30 p.m. on Linden Boulevard near 194th Street, in front of the Cozy Corner Sports Bar and Lounge in St. Albans, authorities said.
A dispute erupted inside the bar before the victim was shot, police said.
He was rushed, unconscious and unresponsive, to Long Island Jewish-Franklin General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, cops said.
In the Bronx, Christian C. Bueno, 39, was blasted in the torso on Sedgwick Avenue near West Kingsbridge Road in Kingsbridge Heights around 10 p.m., authorities said.
He was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, cops said.
The motive for the shooting is unclear, cops said.
Police are seen at the scene of a shooting on 194 St. in Queens on February 8, 2022.Robert Mecea Police are still looking for the people responsible for the drive by shooting that killed New Yorker Gloria Ortiz on February 7, 2022.Peter Gerber Police are still investigating the Ortiz murder. Peter Gerber
Bueno was discovered with drugs in his possession, police sources said.
Earlier Monday, 39-year-old Gloria Ortiz was killed, and two men, 32 and 23, hurt in a drive-by shooting on East 137th Street near Bruckner Boulevard in Mott Haven, cops said.
The suspect opened fire from a white car around 4:10 p.m., striking Ortiz in the head and the two men in the back, police said.
Ortiz was pronounced dead at the hospital while her male companion was moved to Harlem Hospital.
Peter Gerber An unidentified man was blasted in the chest around 11:30 p.m. on Linden Boulevard near 194th Street, in front of the Cozy Corner Sports Bar and Lounge in St. Albans.Robert Mecea
Ortiz and the older man were taken to Lincoln Medical Center, where Ortiz was pronounced dead, cops said.
The younger man went to Harlem Hospital, cops said.
Both men are listed in stable condition.
A man was shot in the torso on Sedgwick Avenue near West Kingsbridge and was pronounced dead upon arriving at the hospital.William C. Lopez/NYPOST Police at the scene of a person shot near 2623 Sedgwick Ave in the Bronx. William C. Lopez/NYPOST
Cops said Tuesday morning that they were still investigating whether Ortiz was an innocent bystander.
Sources said earlier that investigators are probing whether the target was the 32-year-old man, who was a known gang member.
As of Tueday morning, no arrests had been made in any of the murders.

 

[The Bobster]

3 killed, 2 hurt in spate of NYC shootings: cops

Three people were killed and two others wounded in separate shootings across the city on February 7, 2022.

nypost.com

3 killed, 2 hurt in spate of NYC shootings: cops​

By
Amanda Woods


February 8, 2022 9:30am
Updated

Three people are dead and two injured after a spree of shootings took place in New York on February 7, 2022. William C. Lopez/NYPOST

​

Three people were killed and two others wounded in separate shootings across the city Monday, authorities said.
An unidentified man was blasted in the chest around 11:30 p.m. on Linden Boulevard near 194th Street, in front of the Cozy Corner Sports Bar and Lounge in St. Albans, authorities said.
A dispute erupted inside the bar before the victim was shot, police said.
He was rushed, unconscious and unresponsive, to Long Island Jewish-Franklin General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, cops said.
In the Bronx, Christian C. Bueno, 39, was blasted in the torso on Sedgwick Avenue near West Kingsbridge Road in Kingsbridge Heights around 10 p.m., authorities said.
He was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, cops said.
The motive for the shooting is unclear, cops said.
Police are seen at the scene of a shooting on 194 St. in Queens on February 8, 2022.Robert Mecea Police are still looking for the people responsible for the drive by shooting that killed New Yorker Gloria Ortiz on February 7, 2022.Peter Gerber Police are still investigating the Ortiz murder. Peter Gerber
Bueno was discovered with drugs in his possession, police sources said.
Earlier Monday, 39-year-old Gloria Ortiz was killed, and two men, 32 and 23, hurt in a drive-by shooting on East 137th Street near Bruckner Boulevard in Mott Haven, cops said.
The suspect opened fire from a white car around 4:10 p.m., striking Ortiz in the head and the two men in the back, police said.
Ortiz was pronounced dead at the hospital while her male companion was moved to Harlem Hospital.
Peter Gerber An unidentified man was blasted in the chest around 11:30 p.m. on Linden Boulevard near 194th Street, in front of the Cozy Corner Sports Bar and Lounge in St. Albans.Robert Mecea
Ortiz and the older man were taken to Lincoln Medical Center, where Ortiz was pronounced dead, cops said.
The younger man went to Harlem Hospital, cops said.
Both men are listed in stable condition.
A man was shot in the torso on Sedgwick Avenue near West Kingsbridge and was pronounced dead upon arriving at the hospital.William C. Lopez/NYPOST Police at the scene of a person shot near 2623 Sedgwick Ave in the Bronx. William C. Lopez/NYPOST
Cops said Tuesday morning that they were still investigating whether Ortiz was an innocent bystander.
Sources said earlier that investigators are probing whether the target was the 32-year-old man, who was a known gang member.
As of Tueday morning, no arrests had been made in any of the murders.

 

[The Bobster]

‘No neighborhood is safe,’ Crime up in nearly every NYC precinct: latest stats

Nearly every single city police precinct has seen spikes in crime so far this year — including five in which the rate has doubled, according to the latest NYPD statistics.

nypost.com

‘No neighborhood is safe,’ Crime up in nearly every NYC precinct: latest stats​

By
Larry Celona,

Steven Vago and

Jorge Fitz-Gibbon


February 8, 2022 6:19pm
Updated









Crime continues to rise in NYC in 2022



0:00
/
0:45

​

Nearly every single city police precinct has seen spikes in crime so far this year — including five in which the rate has doubled, according to the latest troubling NYPD statistics.
“No neighborhood is safe,” one Brooklyn cop warned Tuesday. “At this rate, we will lose the city by St. Patrick’s Day.”
The only precinct in Manhattan to not see its crime rate jump was the 22nd Precinct, the one covering Central Park.
“Only the squirrels are safe,” another cop added wryly. “Tourists will never come back.”
Seventy-two out of the Big Apple’s 77 police precincts saw crime rise, leaving just five at 2021 levels or dipping below their figures for the same period a year earlier.
The NYPD CompStat numbers show that the 110th Precinct in Elmhurst, Queens, has been battered by the highest jump in crime as of Sunday, with a more than 142 percent increase over last year.
The biggest percentage hikes in the precinct were for grand larcenies, with 197 incidents so far this year after just 43 at the same point in 2021; felony assaults, which rose to 59 from 28, and robberies, with 30 this year compared to 18 last year.
Local masonry contractor Luis Gutierrez blamed the crime spree on the dire economic situation in Corona — and said he’s had enough.
“It gets worse because the prices go up, the rent goes up, the diapers, everything goes up but the jobs,” the father of four told The Post on Tuesday. “My wife is too afraid, so we move to Suffolk [County], Long Island, next month.”
Police investigate the scene of an MTA bus being hit by a stray bullet in Harlem on February 6, 2022.Gabriella Bass
Second on the crime-plagued list is Harlem’s 26th Precinct, which reported a 122 percent jump in incidents so far this year, primarily due to increases in burglaries, grand larceny and assaults.
The Manhattan precinct has seen burglaries soar to 30 so far this year compared to just seven for the same period in 2021; grand larcenies are at 29 as opposed to 15 last year, and 15 felony assaults compared to eight last year.
Last weekend, an off-duty NYPD cop was shot and wounded in the neighborhood.
Off-duty officer Robert Manley was shot in the foot outside the Manhattanville houses on Feb. 5, 2022.Christopher Sadowski
“I think it’s crazy,” said Harlem resident Elizabeth Jenkins, a retired grandmother. “It’s a lot of fear because it’s all over the place, and right here, it’s really bad.”
Jenkins said soft-on-crime Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, himself a Harlem resident, is not doing the neighborhood any favors.
“I think he’s not good,” she said. “He’s not good on crime as far as I can see. He can do better. There’s a lot of crime, and he’s not really dong anything about it.”
At least five NYPD Precincts have reported more than a 100 percent increase in crime so far in 2022.NY Post Illustration
Bragg conceded on Tuesday that Harlem “is in the middle of a crisis” but said he’s committing to taking more guns off the streets.
City worker Jose Rodriguez, who lives within Harlem’s troubled 26th Precinct, blames local police for the neighborhood’s issues.
Harlem residents blame Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s lenient policies for soaring crime rates.Kevin C. Downs
“You hear shots, and they don’t show up. If they show up, they show up when it’s done. It’s pathetic, the response time, and they’re only a block away,” he said.
“You really don’t see them,” Rodriguez added. “If you see them, they’re parked in their car. and they don’t come out. Reality is they need to go back to the old way when they walked the street.”
The list of the top five hardest-hit crime areas was rounded out by the 107th Precinct in Fresh Meadows in Queens, and Brooklyn’s 72nd Precinct in Sunset Park and 69th Precinct in Canarsie.

Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez calls for ‘tweaks’ to bail reform, defends Manhattan DA Bragg​

​

This year’s city crime rise may seem so drastic because last year around this time, there was a COVID-19 surge and minimal access to vaccines, which kept many people locked up indoors, including criminals and their targets, experts have said.
But the percentage of current major city crimes remain up even from pre-pandemic levels by nearly 10 percent, with a surge in car thefts and a slight uptick in felony assaults and grand larcenies citywide, police data shows.
The precinct list compiled by The Post is based on crime percentage increases, not on the actual number of incidents per precinct.
And everything wasn’t all doom and gloom.
Three precincts have seen their crime drop from last year, led by the 122nd near Midland Beach on Staten Island, which saw its overall number dip by nearly 14 percent.
The 83rd Precinct in Bushwick, Brooklyn, reported a 5.7 percent drop, while the 79th in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, decreased by nearly 5 percent.
Two NYPD precincts — the 101st in Far Rockaway and the 22nd in Manhattan — saw crime remain on par with the 2021 numbers, the stats show.
“The NYPD’s leaders are working around the clock, in tandem with their federal and state law enforcement partners, and with the city’s five district attorneys, to devise comprehensive crime fighting measures, build solid criminal cases, and achieve meaningful consequences for crimes that tear at the fabric of the city,” an NYPD spokesman said.

 

[The Bobster]

74 percent of NYC voters say crime is very serious problem in Big Apple: poll

Nearly three-quarters of New York City voters — 74 percent — think crime is a very serious problem, the highest ever recorded since the Quinnipiac College Poll first asked the question …

nypost.com

74 percent of NYC voters say crime is very serious problem in Big Apple: poll​

By
Carl Campanile


February 9, 2022 6:59pm
Updated









Crime continues to rise in NYC in 2022



Fear of crime is gripping the Big Apple.
Nearly three-quarters of New York City voters — 74 percent — think crime is a very serious problem, the highest ever recorded since the Quinnipiac College Poll first asked the question in 1999.
“This is a very high number. It’s eye-popping,” Quinnipiac Poll analyst Mary Snow told The Post.
“The number shows the urgency of the issue. The number is so different from what we’ve seen in the past.”
Until now, the highest number of voters thinking crime was a very serious problem was 50 percent back in January 2016, Quinnipiac reports.
Crime ranks as the most urgent issue facing the Big Apple at 46 percent, making it by far the top issue followed by affordable housing (14 percent) and homelessness (9 percent), the survey of 1,343 registered voters queried between Feb. 3-7 said.
Roughly 4 out of 10 voters — 43 percent — say New York City is less safe compared to other big cities, 36 percent say about as safe and 16 percent say more safe.
The 43 percent of voters saying the city is less safe than other big cities also is the highest level recorded since Quinnipiac first asked the question in 2003.
Sixty-five percent of those polled said they were worried about being victims of a crime.
Perhaps just as troubling, 2/3 of voters — 65 percent — said they personally worry about being the victim of a crime, compared to 35 percent who didn’t. That’s also the highest level of worry since Quinnipiac first asked the question in April 1999 when 57 percent expressed concern about being a victim of crime compared to 42 percent who didn’t.
“In the wake of two NYPD officers being shot and killed on duty among multiple high profile violent crimes, the mandate and urgency in New York City is clear: reducing crime is the number one issue in New York City,” Snow said.
Meanwhile, voters said homelessness has spiraled out of control — with 83 percent saying homelessness is a very serious problem compared to the previous high of 73 percent in 2017.
Thousands attend the funeral of NYPD Officer Wilbert Mora who was killed on-duty while with partner Jason Rivera. Paul Martinka
Compared to a few years ago, 68 percent of voters say they have seen more homeless people on the streets, in parks and on the subway.
Overall, voters are sour on current conditions in the Big Apple.
Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of New Yorkers said they are either somewhat dissatisfied (28 percent) or very dissatisfied (36 percent) with the way things are going in the city today, the highest number of people very dissatisfied since July 2003 — less than two years after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Only one-third of voters were either very satisfied (5 percent) or somewhat satisfied (28 percent) with the state of Gotham.
But voters were also bullish that Mayor Eric Adams will curb the increase in crime.
Nearly two third of voters — 64 percent — said they are optimistic about the next four years with Adams as mayor, compared to 27 percent who didn’t with the rest undecided.
About two-thirds of voters are optimistic about Mayor Adams’s ability to tackle the crime rate in New York City. William C. Lopez/NYPOST
With roughly five weeks on the job, 46 percent of respondents approved of the job Adams is doing compared to 27 percent who didn’t while the other 27 percent who did not have an opinion.
A solid majority of voters — 58 percent — are either very confident (14 percent) or somewhat confident (44 percent) that Adams will reduce gun violence in the city while 39 percent are not so confident (22 percent) or not confident at all (17 percent).
And voters are split on the mayor’s plan to combat gun violence, with 29 percent saying the plan strikes the right balance between law enforcement and crime prevention programs, 30 percent saying it relies too much on law enforcement, and 27 percent saying it relies too much on crime prevention programs.
Voters give Adams high marks for his personal traits — 68 percent said he has strong leadership qualities, 57 percent said he understands the problems of people like them and 54 percent said he is trustworthy.
More than half of voters in the poll approve Adams’ handling of community-police relations. Getty Images / Alexi Rosenfeld
Sixty-one percent of respondents back his response to the coronavirus pandemic compared to 28 percent who disapproved.
Fifty-seven percent of voters approve of his handling of community-police relations — almost double the 29 percent who didn’t.
About half of voters approve his overall handling of crime — 49 percent — while 35 percent disapprove with the rest undecided.
Mayor Adams speaks at the funeral of 22-year-old Jason Rivera who died in an ambush killing in Harlem.AP / Mary Altaffer
As for his handling of public schools, 44 percent expressed support and 31 percent disapproved.
A total of 1,343 city registered voters were surveyed from February 3-7. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.

 

[The Bobster]

Al Sharpton calls on Mayor Adams to curb brazen NYC thefts: ‘They are locking up my toothpaste’

The Rev. Al Sharpton called on Mayor Eric Adams Wednesday to address the brazen thefts at New York City stores, complaining that businesses have been forced to such extreme security.

nypost.com

Al Sharpton calls on Mayor Adams to curb brazen NYC thefts: ‘They are locking up my toothpaste’​

By
Craig McCarthy and

Tamar Lapin


February 9, 2022 12:48pm
Updated









Man steals steaks from Trader Joe's in East Village







The Rev. Al Sharpton called on Mayor Eric Adams Wednesday to address the brazen thefts at New York City stores, complaining that businesses have been forced to such extreme security that retailers are even “locking up my toothpaste.”
“There is no doubt about it,” Sharpton said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” when asked about The Post’s exclusive story of a man casually shoplifting 10 steaks from a Manhattan Trader Joe’s and other thefts.
Rev. Al Sharpton called on Mayor Eric Adams to combat the increasing crime rates all over New York. Splashnews.com
“You go into a local pharmacy, a Duane Reade or Rite Aid, you got to get some help to assist you,” Sharpton said. “They have the little button, they get the buzzer and the guy comes over and unlocks your toothpaste. I mean we are talking about basic stuff here.”
Host Joe Scarborough pressed Sharpton on Adams, asking “just curious, is Eric Adams going to be able to do anything while he’s obviously surrounded by elected officials who want New York to remain chaotic?”
Sharpton cut the new mayor some slack and added “there is a debate in the criminal justice system” on how to handle the issue at the moment.
Due to an uptick in merchandise theft, certain products are locked up or kept behind the cash register. Helayne Seidman The Rev. Al Sharpton has called on Mayor Eric Adams to do something about the upswing in crime in New York. MSNBC Mayor Eric Adams has pledged multiple times that he will fight the surge in crime. A thief steals 10 steaks valued at $15.99 each from Trader Joe’s on 14th Street in the East Village. Store managers were unable to do anything to stop him.Steven Hirsch A man was caught on Post video allegedly brazenly swiping nearly a dozen steaks from a Manhattan Trader Joe’s on Tuesday morning.Steven Hirsch CNA Supermarket at 41-41 Kissena Blvd. in Flushing has a wall of shoplifters’ photos.Kevin C. Downs for The New York Post A would-be shoplifter put up a fight at a Queens department store on February 9, 2022.Splashnews.com
“There are those that are concerned, including me, about overloading the system in the jails with petty crime, but at the same time, you cannot have a culture where people are just at random, just robbing and stealing and is out of control, and is put on the front page of newspapers, which only encourages others to do it.”
“In fairness to Eric, he’s only been there five weeks, but even as I’m fair to him, Eric, they are locking up my toothpaste,” the reverend quipped.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg acknowledged the issue during an event for the Association for a Better New York.
“We have amongst us opportunists, who are repeat players, who are just taking goods,” Bragg said. “So we are brainstorming about how to respond to that as well… Thinking about things and people who are really going from store to store and just taking.”
“I think we’ve all had the experience of picking up the paper and reading about someone having done some horrific act and then reading and seeing that it was their eighth interaction [with the criminal justice system],” he added.

​

 

[The Bobster]

‘Barely holding on’ Queens business owners plead for help with decades-high theft levels

Queens is being hit hard by a dramatic surge in thefts — almost topping levels not seen since the NYPD started compiling statistics decades ago — and borough biz owners are calling on cops to step …

nypost.com

‘Barely holding on’ Queens business owners plead for help with decades-high theft levels​

By
Craig McCarthy,

Georgett Roberts and

Kevin Sheehan


February 9, 2022 6:34pm
Updated









Products under lock and key at Walgreens in Queens



0


Queens is being hit hard by a dramatic surge in thefts this year — almost topping levels not seen since the NYPD started compiling statistics decades ago — and business owners are calling on cops to step up.
As of last Sunday, the borough had recorded 1,236 grand larcenies in 2022, which is only a few dozen shy of the tally logged during the same period in 1993, the earliest for which records are available, when 1,326 major thefts occurred, a Post analysis of police data shows.
A store manager of JMart on Main Street in Flushing told The Post his store loses up to $2,000 on any given day.
“I’ve never seen it like this before,” the manager, Lee said. “Maybe it’s the pandemic. It’s bad. Before you’d have one or two [ shoplifters] per week but now it’s like almost every day.”
This year’s tally is more than double what it was in the same time period last year and more than 40 percent over what it was two years ago. It’s also 75 percent more than 12 years ago.
While grand larcenies have been up citywide, with police data showing a more than 60 uptick from last year and a 6 percent increase from pre-pandemic times, businesses owners in just a few Queens neighborhoods have been disproportionately hit harder.
Nearly half of the major thefts in the borough have been recorded in only three of the county’s 16 patrol areas.
Jorge Porchetti of Colony Wine and Liquor said he won’t call the cops anymore. Matthew McDermott
In the 109th Precinct, which covers Flushing and College Point, 180 grand larcenies have been reported this year, which is nearly triple the same time last year and more than double 2020. That’s also up 181 percent from 2010 and 36 percent from 1993.
The Corona and Elmhurst police precinct, the 110th, has seen a more than four-fold increase in grand larcenies from the same time in 2021. This year’s 197 major thefts are up 156 percent from two years ago, 223 percent from 2010 and 54 percent from the same time in the early 1990s.
The 115th Precinct, which patrols Jackson Heights, North Corona and East Elmhurst, logged 156 grand larcenies in 2022, which is almost 100 more crimes than last year. That is also a surge of 148 percent from two years ago, 206 percent from 2010 and 32 percent from 1993.
Only two other precincts citywide have recorded triple-digit tallies of grand larcenies this year, according to police data. In the Bronx and Brooklyn, which have also recorded seen spikes in thefts, the crimes are spread out across numerous precincts.
Grand larceny, which is one of the major seven crimes tracked by the NYPD as part of Compstat, is any theft of good with a value above $1,000 without force.
On top of the dramatic increase in grand larcenies, Queens has recorded 2,214 minor thefts, or larcenies under $1,000, this year, which business owners say affect them almost daily in some stores.
Jason Wu, store manager at C&A Supermarket in Flushing, has a wall of shoplifter’s photos. (Kevin C. Downs for The New York
The more minor theft figures are up more than 20 percent from each of the last two years and nearly 50 percent from 2010, the earliest year available for that crime.
More than three dozen business owners told The Post in interviews Wednesday they are struggling to stay afloat after their loss during the pandemic and need the city and its police force to do more.
“We are barely holding on,” said Jason Wu, a 40-year-old manager of C&A Supermarket, adding his Flushing store is losing up to $500 per week.
“They should be doing more,” he said of police. “They should come on time. I want the police to patrol more. Every day they should be walking around the business areas.”
Silvana Sislian of La Gran Uruguaya restaurant in Jackson Heights hopes former cop Mayor Adams can change things. Matthew McDermott
Galo Avila, the manager of Downtown Natural Market, said when they call the cops, it takes them 30 to 40 minutes to respond.
“Do they think the thieves will hang around for 40 min?! The police don’t help,” Avila added.
Silvana Sislian, 57, the general manager of LA Gran Uruguaya Cafe Restaurant on 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights, said she hopes Eric Adams will reverse the trend “because he was a cop.”
Others have thrown up their hands.
“I don’t call the cops anymore,” said Jorge Porchetti, the 65-year-old owner of Colony Wine and Liquor in Jackson Heights. “The cops do nothing. Sometimes they don’t come and when they do come, they do nothing.”
Michael Cohen, who owns a jewelry stall selling and repairing watches in Flushing, recalled a recent incident where he saw a cop letting off a shoplifter — who ended up throwing punches — with a warning.
Flushing jewelry stall owner Michael Cohen has seen cops let shoplifters off with just warnings. (Kevin C. Downs for The New York
“The officers put him in the back of his car and lectured him and let him go,” he said. “They didn’t arrest him.”
The NYPD has charged 131 people with grand larceny in all of Queens this year as of Sunday, which accounts for just over 10 percent of major thefts over that time, according to police data.
The grand larceny busts in the borough are down compared to 2020 by roughly 30 percent and by about a quarter from 2010, police data shows.
The NYPD did not provide figures for petit larceny arrests in Queens.
Lee said the cops come when they call “but we need more.”

 

[The Bobster]

‘Barely holding on’ Queens business owners plead for help with decades-high theft levels

Queens is being hit hard by a dramatic surge in thefts — almost topping levels not seen since the NYPD started compiling statistics decades ago — and borough biz owners are calling on cops to step …

nypost.com

‘Barely holding on’ Queens business owners plead for help with decades-high theft levels​

By
Craig McCarthy,

Georgett Roberts and

Kevin Sheehan


February 9, 2022 6:34pm
Updated









Products under lock and key at Walgreens in Queens



0


Queens is being hit hard by a dramatic surge in thefts this year — almost topping levels not seen since the NYPD started compiling statistics decades ago — and business owners are calling on cops to step up.
As of last Sunday, the borough had recorded 1,236 grand larcenies in 2022, which is only a few dozen shy of the tally logged during the same period in 1993, the earliest for which records are available, when 1,326 major thefts occurred, a Post analysis of police data shows.
A store manager of JMart on Main Street in Flushing told The Post his store loses up to $2,000 on any given day.
“I’ve never seen it like this before,” the manager, Lee said. “Maybe it’s the pandemic. It’s bad. Before you’d have one or two [ shoplifters] per week but now it’s like almost every day.”
This year’s tally is more than double what it was in the same time period last year and more than 40 percent over what it was two years ago. It’s also 75 percent more than 12 years ago.
While grand larcenies have been up citywide, with police data showing a more than 60 uptick from last year and a 6 percent increase from pre-pandemic times, businesses owners in just a few Queens neighborhoods have been disproportionately hit harder.
Nearly half of the major thefts in the borough have been recorded in only three of the county’s 16 patrol areas.
Jorge Porchetti of Colony Wine and Liquor said he won’t call the cops anymore. Matthew McDermott
In the 109th Precinct, which covers Flushing and College Point, 180 grand larcenies have been reported this year, which is nearly triple the same time last year and more than double 2020. That’s also up 181 percent from 2010 and 36 percent from 1993.
The Corona and Elmhurst police precinct, the 110th, has seen a more than four-fold increase in grand larcenies from the same time in 2021. This year’s 197 major thefts are up 156 percent from two years ago, 223 percent from 2010 and 54 percent from the same time in the early 1990s.
The 115th Precinct, which patrols Jackson Heights, North Corona and East Elmhurst, logged 156 grand larcenies in 2022, which is almost 100 more crimes than last year. That is also a surge of 148 percent from two years ago, 206 percent from 2010 and 32 percent from 1993.
Only two other precincts citywide have recorded triple-digit tallies of grand larcenies this year, according to police data. In the Bronx and Brooklyn, which have also recorded seen spikes in thefts, the crimes are spread out across numerous precincts.
Grand larceny, which is one of the major seven crimes tracked by the NYPD as part of Compstat, is any theft of good with a value above $1,000 without force.
On top of the dramatic increase in grand larcenies, Queens has recorded 2,214 minor thefts, or larcenies under $1,000, this year, which business owners say affect them almost daily in some stores.
Jason Wu, store manager at C&A Supermarket in Flushing, has a wall of shoplifter’s photos. (Kevin C. Downs for The New York
The more minor theft figures are up more than 20 percent from each of the last two years and nearly 50 percent from 2010, the earliest year available for that crime.
More than three dozen business owners told The Post in interviews Wednesday they are struggling to stay afloat after their loss during the pandemic and need the city and its police force to do more.
“We are barely holding on,” said Jason Wu, a 40-year-old manager of C&A Supermarket, adding his Flushing store is losing up to $500 per week.
“They should be doing more,” he said of police. “They should come on time. I want the police to patrol more. Every day they should be walking around the business areas.”
Silvana Sislian of La Gran Uruguaya restaurant in Jackson Heights hopes former cop Mayor Adams can change things. Matthew McDermott
Galo Avila, the manager of Downtown Natural Market, said when they call the cops, it takes them 30 to 40 minutes to respond.
“Do they think the thieves will hang around for 40 min?! The police don’t help,” Avila added.
Silvana Sislian, 57, the general manager of LA Gran Uruguaya Cafe Restaurant on 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights, said she hopes Eric Adams will reverse the trend “because he was a cop.”
Others have thrown up their hands.
“I don’t call the cops anymore,” said Jorge Porchetti, the 65-year-old owner of Colony Wine and Liquor in Jackson Heights. “The cops do nothing. Sometimes they don’t come and when they do come, they do nothing.”
Michael Cohen, who owns a jewelry stall selling and repairing watches in Flushing, recalled a recent incident where he saw a cop letting off a shoplifter — who ended up throwing punches — with a warning.
Flushing jewelry stall owner Michael Cohen has seen cops let shoplifters off with just warnings. (Kevin C. Downs for The New York
“The officers put him in the back of his car and lectured him and let him go,” he said. “They didn’t arrest him.”
The NYPD has charged 131 people with grand larceny in all of Queens this year as of Sunday, which accounts for just over 10 percent of major thefts over that time, according to police data.
The grand larceny busts in the borough are down compared to 2020 by roughly 30 percent and by about a quarter from 2010, police data shows.
The NYPD did not provide figures for petit larceny arrests in Queens.
Lee said the cops come when they call “but we need more.”

 

[The Bobster]

NYPD shifting hundreds of non-patrol cops to streets to ‘combat violent crime’

The NYPD is pulling hundreds of officers from behind desks and putting them out on patrol starting this week to help “combat violent crime”, The Post has learned.

nypost.com

NYPD shifting hundreds of non-patrol cops to streets to ‘combat violent crime’​

By
Craig McCarthy and

Larry Celona


February 9, 2022 4:54pm
Updated









Products under lock and key at Walgreens in Queens






The NYPD is pulling hundreds of officers from behind desks and putting them out on patrol starting this week to help “combat violent crime” as well as other qualify of life complaints, The Post has learned.
The department is set to roll out its new “enhanced deployment strategy” that is aimed at putting more uniformed cops in visible posts, according to a pair of memos from police brass obtained by The Post.
The move comes as shootings continue to surge, with the latest police data as of Sunday showing gun violence up 30 percent this year compared to last, and nearly 60 percent from 2020.
Overall, major crime is up almost 10 percent from pre-pandemic times, primarily driven by a spike in vehicle thefts, which, along with shootings, became a disturbing trend during COVID.
The plan calls for a total of 658 cops who are currently assigned to non-patrol posts to be moved onto the streets, according to the order from Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell sent out on Monday.
NYPD officers patrol the Herald Square subway station.Matthew McDermott New York Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell participates in a Gun Violence Strategies Partnership meeting at the New York Police Department Headquarters Feb. 3, 2022. AFP via Getty Images
The two-part plan will see 300 uniformed officers from various assignments — such as the NYPD’s press shop, internal affairs and the terrorism unit — reassigned daily by Chief of Department Ken Corey to the 4 p.m. to 12 a.m. shift in “high visibility posts” based on crime trends, according to the memo.
Those units will operate in teams of eight cops and one sergeant, according to the document.
The other component will see each precinct and housing command pulling four uniformed officers from desk duties and moving them to patrol in the second and third tours, the memo says.
The “enhanced deployment strategy” aims to put more uniformed cops in visible posts.Paul Martinka
Each command is expected to have a deployment plan in place by Friday on who can be reassigned when the new units are expected to hit the street, according to a second memo from Corey sent out on Tuesday.
A police source said the plan to move cops out of administration and out on patrols has been in the works since last month.
It also appears to be part of Mayor Eric Adams’ plan to shift uniformed officers from non-police work to help combat crime and separate from revamped anti-crime teams.

 

[The Bobster]

Teen stabbed on NYC train after ignoring man’s question, cops say

A man stabbed a teen in the arm on an Upper Manhattan train after she ignored him when he asked for the time early Thursday, cops said.

nypost.com

Teen stabbed on NYC train after ignoring man’s question, cops say​

By
Amanda Woods


February 10, 2022 10:19am
Updated









Teen stabbed on NYC train after ignoring man’s question, cops say






A man stabbed a teen in the arm on an Upper Manhattan train after she ignored him when he asked for the time early Thursday, cops said.
The 19-year-old victim was on a No. 1 train at 181st Street in Washington Heights around 12:30 a.m. with her boyfriend, when a man approached and asked both of them for the time, police said.
He repeated the question multiple times, but they ignored him, cops said.
The man briefly turned away from the two straphangers, but then turned back and knifed the teen on the arm, police said.
She was taken to New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia in stable condition.
The suspect fled from the train at 168th Street, police said.
A man approached the victim and her boyfriend and asked both of them for the time.Christopher Sadowski The victim was stabbed after she ignored the man’s question.Christopher Sadowski
At least three other people were stabbed in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx overnight, police said.
About 15 minutes after the subway attack, a 39-year-old man was stabbed in the neck during a dispute with another man on University Avenue near West Kingsbridge Road in the Kingsbridge Heights section of the Bronx, cops said.
He went to St. Barnabas Hospital in stable condition, and the suspect took off, police said.
A 39-year-old man was stabbed in the neck in the Kingsbridge Heights section of the Bronx.Christopher Sadowski At least three other people were stabbed in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx overnight.Christopher Sadowski
A 24-year-old man was stabbed from behind, in the back and right thigh, just after midnight as he walked at Broadway and West 147th Street in Hamilton Heights, cops said.
He was taken to Harlem Hospital in stable condition.
The circumstances of the attack are unclear, and he was described as uncooperative.
A man stabbed at Amsterdam Avenue and W 145th Street was treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Christopher Sadowski Police investigate the scene of the 52-year-old man’s stabbing.Christopher Sadowski
A 52-year-old man was also stabbed in the upper right arm at Amsterdam Avenue and West 145th Street, also in Hamilton Heights, around 9:50 p.m. Wednesday, cops said.
He was taken to Harlem Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The motive was not immediately known.

 

[The Bobster]

NYC subway slashings spike 35% this year: NYPD data

In one recent attack, cops are looking for the unhinged man who slashed straphanger Kevin Young behind the ear, face and hand.

nypost.com

NYC subway slashings spike 35% this year: NYPD data​

By
Dean Balsamini and

Joe Marino


February 19, 2022 8:42am
Updated

Kevin Young was slashed behind the ear, face and hand. Helayne Seidman

​

Slashings and stabbings in the subway system are off the rails.
The slicings soared 29% last year (182) from 2020 (141), and the bloodshed continues with 27 incidents so far this year, up 35% from the 20 in the same period last year.
In one recent attack, cops are looking for the unhinged man who slashed straphanger Kevin Young behind the ear, face and hand after Young accidentally bumped into him around 5:45 a.m. Feb. 12 at the Union Square station platform on East 14th Street.
“Subway crime is out of control,” fumed Young, 36, to The Post.
The Manhattan man was on his way to work to start his 6 a.m. shift at Trader Joe’s in Union Square — when he tried to step off a southbound Q train as his assailant forcefully boarded.
“He’s trying to get on the train and I’m trying to get out and after a shoving match he goes for his blade,” Young recalled. “I tried to defend myself as much as possible. As soon as I held him down, he got his blade and went to work.”
Young’s assailant is still on the loose. Helayne Seidman
The razor-wielding suspect sliced the left side of Young’s face “from my sideburns going to my left ear. … He cut my fingers and I lost strength and control,” Young said. “I told him, ‘I just want to go home.'”
The stunned 6-foot, 172-pound victim staggered to a nearby kiosk “and the MTA guy saw me bleeding and in hysteria,” Young said.
He needed 25 stitches to close his wounds at Bellevue Hospital. He underwent surgery at Bellevue on Thursday to deal with nerve damage in his left middle finger. “And I have to get pin plates inserted into my right index finger so the bones could grow back,” he groaned.
His unknown assailant is still on the loose. He was last seen wearing a black jacket, black jeans, black Adidas bag and eyeglasses, police said.
“I just think it’s disgusting how crimes like this can happen to a person,” Young said. “There should be more cops in the subways. There is a stigma against the police. They need to maintain safety and they need to be aggressive. Let them do their jobs,.”
Young’s encounter came four days after a 39-year-old woman was slashed in the forehead with a boxcutter by another woman on a southbound Manhattan 5 train at 59th Street and Lexington Avenue.
Bail reform, which allows repeat offenders to remain on the streets, and authorities mostly ignoring turnstile-jumping and the legion of homeless and emotionally disturbed living in the labyrinthine subway system, is a recipe for disaster, experts said.
“For criminals, the subway is target rich and escape from detection and arrest is easy,” said Michael Alcazar, a retired NYPD detective who is now an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “The transportation is built in.”
‘Subway crime is out of control,’ fumed Young.Helayne Seidman
Alcazar said disbanded teams like the homeless outreach unit in the NYPD “provided an invaluable service to identify the people that needed assistance. I question what happened to all the monies that was set aside by the previous administration to provide assistance for the homeless population.”
Another John Jay professor, Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant, said, “When I was a cop, I always feared sharp instruments more than guns. They’re easy to get, easier to conceal, and cause lots of damage. … One simple solution is to enforce turnstile jumping again, but half of the City Council will lose their minds. The NYPD is in a no-win situation.”
On Friday, Mayor Eric Adams outlined his plan to clean up the city’s increasingly dangerous subway system. The initiative features teams of school nurses, outreach workers and cops poised to convince homeless people and the mentally ill to accept help.
Slashing victim Young had this message for Mayor Adams: “Do what’s best for the people to insure there is safety. If there should be a cop in every subway car and on every platform. So be it.”

 

[The Bobster]

Two people slashed on NYC subway as transit violence continues

Two people were slashed in Manhattan subway stations in separate incidents on Saturday, police said — marking another violent night on the city’s public transit.

nypost.com

Two people slashed on NYC subway as transit violence continues​

By
Patrick Reilly


February 19, 2022 10:59pm
Updated

NYPD respond to the scene where a person was slashed on a subway at W116th Street and Broadway on Feb. 19, 2022. Christopher Sadowski

​

Two people were slashed in Manhattan subway stations in separate incidents on Saturday, police said — marking another violent night on the city’s public transit system.
In the first attack, a man was stabbed in the leg during an attempted robbery in the mezzanine of the 168th Street station in Washington Heights around 8:30 p.m., cops said.
Police said the victim was approached by two Hispanic men, both wearing black hoodies and masks, who tried to rob him.
The victim was stabbed in the leg as he tried to flee. He was transported by EMS to an area hospital where he was treated for a puncture wound, police said.
Less than a half hour later, another man was slashed at 116th Street Columbia University station in Morningside Heights, police said.
The victim, 31, was stabbed in the forearm with a knife after allegedly getting into a verbal dispute with a man and a woman.
The victim asked the two to move after they began smoking an unknown substance, prompting the man to draw a knife and stab him in the arm, according to police sources.
He was transported to a St. Luke’s hospital where he received treatment for a puncture wound to the arm, according to police.
The suspects fled, possibly on the 1 train, cops said. The male attacker was described as a Hispanic male in his 30s wearing a black and red jacket. The female was wearing an army jacket. Her race wasn’t known.
No arrests have been made in connection to either incident. It’s not clear at this time whether the two attacks are related, cops said.
According to NYPD data, subway slashings soared 29 percent last year (182) from 2020 (141). So far in 2020, there have been at least 27 incidents, up 35 percent from the 20 in the same period last year.

 

[The Bobster]

Serious crime keeps ticking up as Adams pushes to bring NYC back

Major crime and gun violence in the Big Apple have shown no signs of slowing as Mayor Eric Adams pushes people to get back to work.

nypost.com

Serious crime keeps ticking up as Adams pushes to bring NYC back​

By
Larry Celona and

Craig McCarthy


February 21, 2022 5:23pm
Updated









Canal Street subway stabbing







Major crime and gun violence in the Big Apple have shown no signs of slowing as Mayor Eric Adams pushes people to get back to work and attempts to clean up the subway system.
New police data shows that serious crime is up nearly 14 percent this year as of Sunday, compared to the same period in 2020 — when the city was bustling before COVID-19.
The early crime trends this year present a challenge for Adams, who last week called for workers to return to New York City — promising a safer city with programs like his new subway safety plan to crack down on rule-breaking and help address the homeless population underground.
While much of this year’s crime increase is primarily driven by car thefts — a nationwide COVID-era trend that cops have struggled to reign in — New York has seen an uptick in felony assaults, burglary and grand larceny over the first eight weeks of 2022.
00:00

Mayor Eric Adams speaks during a vigil following the shooting of two police officers in Harlem, New York City on January 22, 2022. AFP via Getty Images Police investigate the scene where two people were shot on E198th Street at Webster Avenue in the Bronx, NY around 11 p.m. on February 12, 2022.Christopher Sadowski for NY Post
There have been 300 more serious assaults this year, compared to 2020 — 2,994 versus 2690, an 11.3 percent increase, according to the data released Monday.


Burglaries are up 6.6 percent from 1,908 to 2,034 and grand larcenies up 7 percent from 3,753 to 6,763, the data shows.


Shootings have also surged nearly 60 percent from pre-pandemic times, from 97 to 154 incidents.

Mayor Adams recently called for workers to return to New York City as burglaries, serious assaults and shootings are on the rise.REUTERS New police data shows that serious crime is up nearly 14 percent this year as of Sunday.Christopher Sadowski for NY Post
Gun violence, another statistic that has soared since the shutdown during the first wave of COVID-19, is also up this year by more than 25 percent from 2021 — when the city was recording record highs in shootings.


Major crime is up overall compared to 2021, but over those weeks last year much of the city was on lockdown following a holiday surge of infections and vaccines were not yet widely available.

 

[The Bobster]

At least seven straphangers targeted during violent weekend on the subway

A woman was stabbed in the stomach and another was attacked with a metal pole during a violent weekend on the Big Apple subway system, authorities said.

nypost.com

At least seven straphangers targeted during violent weekend on the subway​

By
Amanda Woods,

Larry Celona and

Tina Moore


February 21, 2022 9:27am
Updated

A man was stabbed multiple times inside the Canal Street 6 line subway station. Paul Martinka

More On: subways ​

• 
  

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• 
  

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  8 Wordle spinoffs to get addicted to, from Subwaydle to Lordle of the Rings ​

A man was threatened with a hatchet and two women attacked – one stabbed in the stomach and the other struck with a metal pole – during a violent weekend on the Big Apple subway system, authorities said.
At least seven straphangers were assaulted between Saturday and early Monday.
Kyle Westby, 42, was standing on the southbound platform for the 2, 3, 4, and 5 trains at the Franklin Avenue station in Prospect Heights around 12:30 a.m. Monday when two men approached him, one of whom asked: “Why are you staring at me?”
“I saw him reach into his jacket and pull out a brown object. He swung at me and I ran. The stairs were two feet away, so I ran up the stairs, and thank God the cops were there,” Westby, a supervisor at a fireproofing company, told The Post Monday.
“I said, ‘Officers, this man swung at me with an ax.’ Immediately, they went down and apprehended him.”
Transit cops in the station took the suspect, identified as Robert Griffith, into custody at the scene, authorities said.
Griffith, who also lives in Brooklyn, was charged with attempted assault, menacing and criminal possession of a weapon, cops said.
Griffith also had a punch dagger and screwdriver in his possession, cops said.
Blood is seen on the wall and floor in the Canal Street stabbing.Paul Martinka The Canal Street stabbing suspect stayed on the train as it headed to the next station.Paul Martinka Police officers and detectives at the scene of the Canal Street stabbing.Paul Martinka
In a separate incident in the Highbridge section of the Bronx, Evelina Rivera, 30, was chatting with a fellow straphanger on a southbound 4 train near 167th Street around 2:30 a.m. Monday when a man who appeared to be homeless told them to “shut the f–k up,” police said.
“We’re like, ‘Anyway,’ and we keep talking, and he’s like, ‘I’ll make you shut up,’ and he comes with the pole,” Rivera recounted.
“He tries to strike her, misses by a millimeter, broke the subway window … She used mace, blinded him, and now he’s attacking wildly. I get hit,” she went on.
“He hit me so hard, the ball came out of my [septum] piercing. It’s crooked.”
Rivera got off the train at 167th Street and refused medical attention, police said.
But her attacker – described as in his late 30s, with facial piercings, a tattoo on his hand, and wearing all black – stayed on board.
An elderly man was punched in the face in an unprovoked attack on the 6 line subway at the Broadway-Lafayette station.Paul Martinka The man was bleeding from his nose and mouth and taken to the hospital.Paul Martinka Police investigate at the Broadway-Lafayette station.Paul Martinka
He was still at large later in the morning.
Seven minutes earlier in Manhattan, a 22-year-old man was going through the turnstile for the shuttle to Grand Central at 42nd Street-Times Square when four men approached him, punched him in the face and stole his cellphone, cops said.
No weapons were displayed, police said.
The alleged muggers took off after the incident.
The early Monday attacks came after a stranger randomly punched a 69-year-old man in the face as he stood on the northbound B train platform at Broadway-Lafayette Street in Manhattan around 8:15 p.m. Sunday, cops said.
The victim was taken to Lenox Hill Hospital in stable condition, cops said.
The assailant took off after the incident.

​

About two hours earlier, a 31-year-old man was knifed twice in the arm in an unprovoked attack aboard a 6 train approaching the Canal Street station, cops said.
The male suspect stayed on the train as it headed to the next station.
The victim was taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition.
A 20-year-old woman was also randomly attacked around 2:50 p.m. Saturday while waiting for a northbound 3 train at Van Siclen Avenue in East New York — when a man punched her in the back unprovoked, authorities said.
When the victim tried to defend herself, the man displayed a knife and stabbed her three times in the stomach, police said.
She was taken to an area hospital in stable condition.
Cops released surveillance images of the suspect Sunday.
Later that night, two men were slashed in Upper Manhattan subway stations — one in Washington Heights and the other in Morningside Heights, cops said.
The incidents come as Mayor Eric Adams’ new subway safety plan is set to go into effect Monday.
Teams of NYPD cops and outreach workers are set to start canvassing trains and subways stations across the city under the mayor’s plan to crack down on rule-breaking and eliminate homelessness.
The teams will also seek to identify mentally ill and homeless people in a bid to stop them from living on trains and in the stations — and work to get them the treatment they need.

 

[The Bobster]

Queens violence leaves two men dead, another wounded

Two men were killed and a third was wounded in a violent three-hour span in Queens on Monday night, police said.

nypost.com

Queens violence leaves two men dead, another wounded​

By
Larry Celona and

Kenneth Garger


February 22, 2022 3:33am
Updated

A shooting scene at 116-19 Mexico Street in Queens, on Feb. 21, 2022. Wayne Carrington

​

Two men were killed and a third was wounded in a violent three-hour span in Queens on Monday night, police said.
In the first of two incidents, a 23-year-old man, identified as Daniel Ortiz, was fatally shot in a basement apartment on Mexico Street in St. Albans at about 4 p.m., according to the NYPD.
Ortiz suffered gunshot wounds to his shoulder, torso and thigh. He was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center and pronounced dead.
Just after 6:30 p.m., an unidentified man was knifed to death at 109-02 Merrick Boulevard in Jamaica, cops said.
A 39-year-old was also shot at the second scene. He arrived by private means at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center a short time later and was listed in stable condition, authorities said.
No arrests were immediately made in either case.

 

[The Bobster]

Nearly one-third of NYC bus riders aren’t paying the fare

The troubling spike brings the reported local bus fare evasion to the highest it’s been in at least a decade, according to a source familiar with the MTA’s survey methodology.

nypost.com

Nearly one-third of NYC bus riders aren’t paying the fare​

By
David Meyer


February 21, 2022 6:46pm
Updated

According to a MTA survey, 30 percent of the city's bus riders are not paying the fare. Bloomberg via Getty Images

​

Nearly 30 percent of NYC bus riders aren’t paying their fare — costing the transit authority $56 million in the last three months of 2021 alone, according to the MTA’s latest fare evasion survey.
Transit number-crunchers estimated some 29.3 percent of riders on local bus routes did not pay the fare in the final three months of 2021 — up from 25.2 percent in the three months before that, the report showed.
The troubling spike brings the reported local bus fare evasion to the highest it’s been in at least a decade, according to a source familiar with the agency’s survey methodology.
“The high rate is mostly being driven by [an approximately] 50 percent non-payment rate in the Bronx, and a jump in non-payment on Staten Island,” the source said.
Transit coffers lost more funding to bus fare evasion in the final quarter of 2021 than from subway fare beaters. Even though there are nearly three-times as many subway riders as bus riders, the evasion rate underground was below 8 percent over the same period, costing the authority $41 million.
The MTA estimates the fare evasion cost $56 million in the last three months of 2021.Bloomberg via Getty Images
“if you can get away with not paying your fare on the bus, chances are you’ll also try it on subways,” warned MTA board member Andrew Albert. “We’re talking about massive fare loss on buses, which hurts the people who need it the most — the poor and those who cannot afford massive fare increases.”
MTA leaders have been sounding the alarm about fare evasion since 2017, but with little success. An audit last year by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli noted that farebeating had actually increased since the $24 million-per-year enforcement effort began.
Two of the city’s five district attorneys, in Manhattan and Brooklyn, stopped prosecuting transit “theft-of-services” in 2018.
The NYPD however still gives tickets for the violation on subways — some 14,573 in the fourth quarter of 2021 — and occasionally makes arrests. Bus enforcement, however, is non-existent; the Transit Bureau did not issue a single bus fare evasion summons in all of 2021, according to publicly available stats.
The Bronx had a 50 percent non-payment rate during the survey period.GC Images
An MTA rep said enforcement teams are deployed to local buses each day. Transit inspectors issued 39,055 summonses to bus fare beaters in 2021, of which “a vast majority” carried $100 fines, the MTA said.
“By starving the public transportation system of funds, fare evasion is a crime against ordinary New Yorkers who pay their fare,” spokesman Aaron Donovan said in a statement. “That’s why NYC Transit deploys enforcement teams to combat bus fare evasion on a daily basis. It’s easier to pay a $2.75 fare than a $100 fine.”
MTA Chair Janno Lieber acknowledged the persistence of bus fare evasion during testimony before the State Legislature last Tuesday.
Lieber attributed the increased noncompliance in part to the five-month period in 2020 when buses went fare-free to limit interactions between drivers and riders amid the ongoing spread of COVID-19.
MTA Chair Janno Lieber blamed some of the fare evasion on the period where the MTA suspended fare on buses.Paul Martinka
“There’s no question that we had a very confusing fare payment period with the bus system in particular, where we closed down the front door to protect the drivers, and then everybody got on the back, they didn’t pay for a while,” he said. “The whole fare payment system has slightly broken down on buses, in my view.”
TWU Local 100 Vice President JP Patafio, who represents Brooklyn bus drivers, said the problem has gotten so out-of-hand that he is skeptical enforcement would help.
“I don’t know that there’s a police solution to 29 percent fare evasion,” Patafio said. “They should look at making local bus service free. As we saw during the pandemic, it’s an essential public service — like, the most essential of the essential.”

 

[The Bobster]

NYC graffiti blight doesn’t sit right with Sutton Place residents

Graffiti has come to the affluent enclave, including a park off Sutton Square and a brick patio overlooking the East River.

nypost.com

NYC graffiti blight doesn’t sit right with Sutton Place residents​

By
Dean Balsamini and

Griffin Kelly


February 26, 2022 10:19am
Updated

Graffiti in Twenty-Four Sycamores Park on York Ave. Helayne Seidman

​

The writing is on the wall for residents of Sutton Place — even one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in the Big Apple isn’t immune to the crime surge.
Graffiti has come to the affluent enclave, including a park off Sutton Square and a brick patio overlooking the East River.
“Very disturbing trend!! It was definitely shocking to see,” retired cardiologist Bob Pickoff, 69, told The Post.
At Sutton Place Park North, the small brick patio that overlooks the East River was pockmarked with four etchings — three tagged with “Clef” in yellow spray paint.
“The graffiti is horrifying,” said Claire Hochheiser, 65, who visits the park twice a day with her husband, Robert, and first noticed the scrawl a week ago. “If it’s gang-related or just kids fooling around, it’s ugly. It’s like having garbage on the floor or permanent litter.”
Graffiti on mail boxes on East 55th St. off Sutton Place.Helayne Seidman “The graffiti is horrifying,” said Claire Hochheiser.Helayne Seidman
Residents of the nabe — where the median household income is $250,000 according to city-data — could not recall the last time they saw the disturbing doodling.
“It shouldn’t be like this. It concerns me because this is a very nice quiet place,” said Maddi Marlowe, 73, who’s lived in the neighborhood for 20 years. “It might get worse. I don’t ever remember seeing graffiti here.”
More vandalism, including the yellow “Clef” tag, was sprayed on a brick wall underneath the Queensborough bridge next to a Citibike rack.
“It concerns me because this is a very nice quiet place,” said Maddi Marlowe.Helayne Seidman Graffiti under the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge on York Ave.Helayne Seidman A passer-by photographs graffiti in Sutton Place Park.Helayne Seidman
At Twenty-Four Sycamores Park, adjacent to the Queensborough Bridge, The Post found additional graffiti next to a swing set, a blue scribble of letters barely legible.
City Parks workers on Thursday scrubbed the graffiti at Sutton Park Place North.
Said Pickoff, who posted his concerns on the Nextdoor app, which sparked a parade of similar complaints: “I’m not sure what the solution is long-term. It’s a quality of life issue. The parks are heavily used by the people — the children — who live here. And it detracts from the beauty.”
Graffiti has shown up all over the ritzy neighborhood.Helayne Seidman City Parks workers on Thursday scrubbed the graffiti at Sutton Park Place North.Helayne Seidman
Groused one commenter: “In every sense, signs of the times.”
Crime continues to plague Gotham. The tally for major offenses — murder, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, grand larceny and grand larceny — is up 49% this year through Feb. 20 as compared to the same period in 2021, NYPD data show.
Graffiti complaints to the city’s 311 system rose 9 percent in 2021 (7,544) from the previous year (6,915), public records show. This year, 4,170 complaints have been registered through Feb. 23, the records show.

 

[The Bobster]

Red-light running spikes as NYC sees deadliest February for car crashes in 14 years

The alarming stats show a need to bolster the city’s red-light and speed camera programs, which have been effective at reducing crashes by the State Legislature in Albany.

nypost.com

Red-light running spikes as NYC sees deadliest February for car crashes in 14 years​

By
David Meyer


March 3, 2022 11:59pm
Updated

New York traffic crashes dropped under ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio's leadership but increased starting in 2018. Seth Gottfried

​

Red-light running is on the rise and last month marked the deadliest February for traffic deaths in New York City since at least 2008, according to a new report.
A total of 23 pedestrians, cyclists and motor vehicle users died on NYC streets last month, advocacy group Transportation Alternatives said — more than double the number of people killed in crashes in February of 2021.
Red-light violations, meanwhile, were up 50 percent in the second half of 2021 compared to two years earlier, the last full year of data before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the report.
The alarming stats show a need to bolster the city’s red-light and speed camera programs, which have been effective at reducing crashes at camera locations but are controlled — and restricted — by the State Legislature in Albany.
There is a cap of 150 red light cameras in the state of New York. Christopher Sadowski A total of 23 pedestrians, cyclists and motor vehicle users died on NYC streets last month.Paul Martinka
State law currently caps the number of red-light cameras at 150, while speed cameras can only be installed near schools and turn off at night — when a disproportionate number of deadly crashes occur, according to city stats.
“There are 13,250 signalized intersections in New York City. A red-light camera program limited to only 150 locations is woefully inadequate,” said Sandra Voss, a member of Families for Safe Streets, a group of people who have lost loved ones in crashes. “We have proven tools to save lives, we just need Albany to let New York City use them to their fullest potential.”
City Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, whose boss Mayor Eric Adams has doubled down cameras and other strategies from his predecessor’s “Vision Zero” program, co-signed the group’s call for the city to have full control of its camera program.
Mayor Eric Adams Mayor Eric Adams promised to make streets safer for New Yorkers through redesigned intersections and ramped-up traffic enforcement.Paul Martinka There is a need for more traffic cameras to reduce drivers from speeding.Dennis A. Clark
“Our automated enforcement programs save lives: data shows traffic injuries drop where we install these cameras,” Rodriguez said in a statement.
“The DOT has proven for years that it can run the largest, most effective automated enforcement program in the nation and we deserve to determine how we keep New Yorkers safe on our streets.”
Traffic crashes initially dropped under ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio’s leadership but reversed course starting in 2018. His final year in office saw more traffic fatalities than any other year in his two-term tenure, according to city stats.

 

[The Bobster]

NYC crime surpasses pre-COVID levels as brass tout its stalled anti-gun street units

Major crime in NYC kept rising last month as it surpassed pre-pandemic levels with murders surging — as police brass tout the anti-crime units that have yet to hit the streets.

nypost.com

NYC crime surpasses pre-COVID levels as brass tout its stalled anti-gun street units​

By
Craig McCarthy


March 3, 2022 7:29pm
Updated

NYPD data suggests murder, car theft and felony assaults have risen this past February. Robert Mecea

​

Major crime in NYC continued showed no signs of slowing last month as it surpassed pre-pandemic levels with murders ticking up — as police brass tout the revamped anti-crime units that have yet to hit the streets.
The nearly 20 percent increase in major crime in February — up to 9,138 from 7,657 in 2020, the most recent time period of statistics to accurately compare due to the effects of COVID-19 — was mainly driven by a doubling in car thefts and upticks in murders, robberies, felony assaults and burglaries, NYPD data shows.
Murder was up by about a third with 32 criminal deaths on the books last month compared to 22 two years ago, the data shows.
There were 1,083 stolen vehicles recorded, up from 470 in 2020, according to police data.
Both serious assaults and burglaries were up by more than 200 incidents in February compared to the same time in 2020 with NYPD recording 1,665 felony assaults, which was up from 1,478, and 1,186 burglaries, an increase from 961, according to police data.
Robberies were up slightly to 1,276 from 1,175.
NYPD officials have promised to deploy new anti-crime Neighborhood Safety Teams soon.NYPD
For the second straight month, the crime statistics were not released at a press conference with Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell and other NYPD officials, as prior administrations had done for years.
Last month, the department released the statistics just hours after President Joe Biden visited the city to discuss gun violence.
This month’s press release highlighted the stalled anti-gun teams, dubbed Neighborhood Safety Teams, as a key upcoming initiative to “stop the proliferation of illegal guns, stifle gang activity, and suppress the violence caused by these unlawful actions.”
Mayor Eric Adams insists NYPD officers are working hard to stop gun violence as Neighborhood Safety Teams are yet to be active.Stefan Jeremiah
The NYPD though — as well as Mayor Eric Adams — has been unable to provide a timeline for the rollout of units, which The Post reported early this week had been delayed.
Shootings remained flat compared to last year during the continued surge in gun violence that started in the early days of the pandemic.

 

[The Bobster]

Three people injured in separate shootings across NYC

Three people were hurt in separate shootings early Saturday across the five boroughs, police said.

nypost.com

Three people injured in separate shootings across NYC​

By
David Meyer


March 5, 2022 5:15pm
Updated

Police investigate an early Saturday morning shooting on E 42nd St. and 1st Ave. in Manhattan. Seth Gottfried


Three people were hurt in separate shootings early Saturday across the five boroughs, police said.
Around 7:30 a.m., a motorist was shot in the back and leg following a dispute with another driver near Exit 6 on the Jackie Robinson Parkway. The man, 28, was taken to Brookdale Hospital in stable condition, according to an NYPD spokesman.
The alleged shooter took off westbound in a “white vehicle,” police said.
The gunfire followed two earlier incidents.
One of the shooting victims was a 28-year-old man who was hit in the back and the leg Saturday morning. Kevin C. Downs The road rage shooting took place off of the Jackie Robinson Parkway. Kevin C. Downs
Around 2:39 a.m. near the United Nations, a man was shot once in the stomach during a dispute with an unknown shooter, according to cops. He is expected to survive.
The alleged shooter, who fled, was wearing a blue jacket, white sweatshirt, white sneakers and khaki pants.
About 45 minutes earlier on Staten Island, a 25-year-old man reported being shot from behind while sitting in his vehicle at Richmond Terrace and Van Pelt Avenue, according to the NYPD.
A man was shot near the United Nations in Manhattan close to 2:45 a.m.Seth Gottfried
The victim — who was hit in the back but is expected to survive — told cops that “he was seated in his vehicle when he heard gunshots and felt pain.”
No information is available on the perpetrator.

 

[The Bobster]

Brooklyn men killed in separate shootings

Gary Delima, 31, was hit with multiple gun shots outside of 1092 Willmohr St. just after 7 p.m., police said.

nypost.com

Brooklyn men killed in separate shootings​

By
Jesse O’Neill and

Amanda Woods


March 11, 2022 12:15am
Updated

Gary Delima was hit with multiple gun shots in front of an East Flatbush apartment building in Brooklyn just after 7 p.m, according to NYPD. Robert Mecea


Two men were killed in separate shootings in Brooklyn on Thursday night, police said.
In the first incident, Gary Delima, 31, was shot multiple times outside an apartment building on Willmohr Street in East Flatbush just after 7 p.m., cops said.
Delima was taken to Brookdale Hospital and pronounced dead.
At about 11:30 p.m. in Crown Heights, Adiyb Ramkissoon, 30, was shot dead by a gunman who chased him into a bodega on St. Johns Place near Troy Avenue in Crown Heights, authorities said.
Ramkissoon was also declared dead at the Kings County Hospital Center.
Scene of the shooting at 1268 St. Johns Place in Brooklyn. Robert Mecea
The gunman, who wore dark clothing and a green jacket, fled the scene.
No arrests were immediately made in either killing.