Street robberies are now a common occurrence in residential and business areas.
NYPD 109th Precinct Commanding Officer Louron Hall speaks about the precinct’s increase in crimes for the year at a community council meeting held at Flushing Community Church on Wednesday, Sept. 14. (Photo via Twitter/NYPD 109th Precinct)
Excerpt from QNS.com:
Beginning on Monday, Sept. 19, the 109th Precinct in downtown Flushing will implement an aggressive strategy to suppress crime in the area, as the precinct is dealing with a major increase in crimes this year, Commanding Officer Louron Hall announced during a community council meeting held this week.
Hall will develop a unit consisting of one lieutenant, three sergeants, and 30 police officers that will deal specifically with street crimes. The unit will be split into three teams of 10 officers, each of which will conduct tours throughout the precinct.
During the 109th Precinct Community Council meeting held at the Bowne Street Community Church, Hall said the precinct is currently struggling with crime in all seven major categories: murder, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, grand larceny and grand larceny auto.
“So far, this year, we’re at 1,988 crimes, which translates to an increase of 81% in crimes for the year to date. We are going through very difficult times,” Hall said. “Right now, we are No. 1 in the city as it relates to crime increase.”
According to Hall, out of the 1,988 crimes, 452 are violent crimes that consist of homicides, rapes, robberies, and felony assaults.
This year, there have been four homicides, four shootings, 25 rapes, 195 robberies, 1,536 property crimes in comparison to 842 last year. Robberies have increased exponentially (91%), burglaries (53%), followed by grand larcenies (118%) and grand larceny auto (13%).
Over the 28-day period, crime has increased as well, Hall said.
According to Hall, they’re seeing a lot of street robberies occurring in the downtown Flushing area at various times of the day.