Crime Is Down in the 70th Precinct

Monday, December 5th, 2011

This month’s meeting of the 70th Precinct Community Council was somewhat more sparsely attended than October’s. Hopefully, this will change at the next meeting–Monday, December 19 at 7:30pm–which is doubling as a holiday party. These meetings really are great opportunities to voice concerns directly to community leaders. If you’ve commented on crime posts here in the past, if you’ve simply read the posts and are concerned, or if you’re just concerned, please show up. The precinct relies on information from residents as much as we rely on them for protection. So show up and help them out.

That said, here’s what went down this past Wednesday night.

Before the meeting, I had a chance to ask Lt. Jacqueline Bourne of Community Affairs about the situation with Jack on East 17th and Cortelyou. There had been some discussion in the comments about whether to call 911 or the Kings County Mobile Unit if anyone sees Jack acting erratically. Lt. Bourne emphatically said to call 911 if anyone is acting in a manner where they seem like a threat to themselves or others.

Both Deputy Inspector Eric Rodriguez (Commanding Officer of the 70th) and Captain Steven Griffith (Commanding Officer of Transit District 32) addressed the “cell-phone phenomena” that is driving crime city- and nationwide:

- Rodriguez differentiated between grand larceny (which is theft without a violent assualt like the use of weapons or being hit) and robbery (which involved a violent assault).

- Captain Griffith, whose district includes many of the stops in the 70th precinct including Cortelyou, Beverley, and Church Avenue, announced that an arrest had been made of someone who had been preying on people getting off at Church Avenue. Inspector Rodriguez later said that, after this arrest, attacks at the Church Avenue station had stopped.

- iPhones and iPads are the major target for thieves. They can get $200 each for an iPhone by selling them to stores on Church Avenue. Rodriguez would not specify which store or stores were buying the merchandise, but is aware of them and repeatedly warned that “if you buy stolen phones, we’ll catch you, we’ll lock you up.” They’re sending decoys into stores trying to buy merchandise, and if a store sells them stolen merchandise, they’re being arrested.

- Accompanying Griffith was a lieutenant from the Transit Decoy Squad. Griffith explained that there are police decoys out working to catch criminals on the trains and in the stations. I asked Rodriguez if he had any similar sort of operation in the 70th tasked with addressing crime occurring on the street (specifically some of the recent assaults along Cortelyou). He said that there are continual joint operations between the 70th and Transit Bureau District 32, and that they’ve gotten lots of information from recent arrests that they’re currently working. There have been a couple of arrests related to the Cortelyou and Beverley stations, including one on the Beverley platform itself, and they’ve identified some individuals who are being sought.

- Rodriguez hopes for legislation that will force cell phone companies to place technology in their phones that will automatically shut the phones down when they are stolen. He said Verizon already has this technology in their phones. He also hopes, in the future, to have a registry of serial numbers set up, where people can register their phones in case of theft. One thing people can do now, he said, is download apps like iGotYa or Find My iPhone. Matt, a resident who Lauren Collins Elvers mentioned in her interview with us as someone working to combat shoplifting along Church Avenue, was at the meeting and mentioned to me that upgrading to the new operating system on iPhones should install this technology automatically.

- Rodriguez emphasized, though, that the most important way to combat these and all crimes in our neighborhood is to build lines of communication between the community and the police. This is a long-term process that he’s working to build and encourages everyone to take part.

In addition to addressing cell-phone crime, Rodriguez also said the following:

 - Crime is down 3.3% for the 28-day period and 4.2% for the year.

- Both Halloween and Thanksgiving went very well in the neighborhood. Some of the 70th ”spent a beautiful day” on Thanksgiving dishing out food at the Flatbush Reformed Church.

- As the cold weather (hopefully) approaches, Rodriguez  a) warned of snow/black ice making roads more dangerous, b) announced the continuation of the NYPD’s coat drive–you can drop coats off at any precinct for people in need, and c) asked for people’s vigilance, caution, and patience in relation to seasonal traffic issues like congestion. He strongly warned against drunk driving as it affects the lives of so many and will not be tolerated by his precinct.

- In reference to car break-ins, he said to be wary of leaving items like laptops, change, and gifts on seats or in any way visible inside your car. He also said to avoid using suction cup holders for GPS devices on the windshield. Thieves have many ways of breaking into cars and will break in just for that.

- The car bombs and graffiti incidents in the 66th precinct are being investigated by the Hate Crimes Unit and Rodriguez wanted to highlight how much graffiti can affect and hurt people. There was a rumor of another car fire being due to a bomb, but the rumor is untrue. It was due to some faulty wiring on the dash that caught fire.

- After a question about whether the 70th has lost or will lose cops due to budget cuts, he said that the precinct has lost maybe 4 or 5 since he’s been there, but that crime is down 10% since he started and the precinct should be getting some of the 1,548 cadets in the academy when they get assigned to impact zones, which the 70th has.

- Make sure the 70th knows about community meetings they can attend and get information out at.

 Some other important speakers/information:

1) Assemblyman Jim Brennan made an appearance to ask that people contact the Governor about extending the “Millionaire’s Tax,” which expires this month. He very clearly laid out how this would affect city agencies, including the NYPD and the 70th Precinct. According to Brennan, for the first time, the city’s budget next year will be in worse shape than the state’s. NYC’s Office of Management and Budget has directed every agency this year to take a 2% cut in their budget and to be prepared to take a 6% cut in July 2012. There have been layoffs of 7-8,000 people in city government, worth around $1 billion. If the 6% happens, it would mean a cut of around $4.5 billion–and the corresponding loss of personnel. He said that all this could be prevented if the Governor would give consideration to the Assembly’s proposal of extending for one year the tax on people who earn $1 million or more. Currently, the tax is on those who make $200,000+ (individuals) and $300,000+ (families).

2) A spokesman for the FDNY spoke at length about fire safety:

- Alarms: Every home should have a smoke detector (on the ceiling; good for 10 years) and a carbon monoxide detector (anywhere; good for 5-7 years). Batteries should be changed when clocks are changed for Daylight Savings Time.
- Be careful about carbon monoxide and cars: Don’t run your car in a closed garage and, if you keep your car on the street, be careful about running it while sitting inside after snow has been plowed on the street. Plowed snow can be blocking the exhaust and this will cause carbon monoxide to build up in the car. This often happens to seniors.
- Your gas oven and stove emits carbon monoxide. Whenever you use it, crack a window 4-6 inches. If the flame is blue, it’s fine; if it’s red, orange, or yellow, there’s too much carbon monoxide being emitted. Over Thanksgiving, they had 320 calls for carbon monoxide due to ventilation problems while people were cooking. DON’T USE OVENS OR STOVES TO WARM YOUR APARTMENT!
- Gas dryers: Clean the lint tray or lint could get in the duct work, blocking carbon monoxide from being vented out.
- Grease fires: Do not use water. Do one of three things: 1) cover the pot and suffocate the flame, 2) use a fire extinguisher marked ABC (universal); make sure to stand back so the grease does not splatter and burn you, or 3) pour baking soda on the flame, NOT BAKING POWDER, which will cause the fire to grow.
- Electricity: Anything that gets hot or cold, like a refrigerator or oven, should be plugged directly into the wall and not into power cords, timers, or extension cords.
- Fire drills: No child has ever died in a NYC public school from a fire in the last 100 years and they attribute this to fire drills. You should be doing them in your home so you’re ready for when you’re not thinking clearly.
- No bars on your windows – These are illegal in NYC.
- Prevention: You lock your doors when you leave to prevent burglary when burglars will only looks for your things; a fire looks for everything and everyone. You need to do the work to prevent and prepare for them.

3) Phil Halliburton of Con Ed spoke about some programs and tips they have as cold weather approaches. He brought some literature that is available here and said to call Customer Service at 1-800-752-6623 for more info. Also, he warned against some particular scams. One is when someone calls saying they’re going to shut off your electricity unless you run out and buy a prepaid card and then give them the card number in order to pay off your balance. The other is someone coming to your door saying they’re a Con Ed rep. If they’re actually a rep, they will have a photo ID with a black stripe on the left that says Con Ed.

4) A representative of the New York Rescue Resonse Team handed out information about programs they have for seniors. Most of the info is available on their website.

5) Sgt. Anthony Caggiano, who used to be stationed in the 70th and currently works at 1 Police Plaza for Community Affairs, encouraged everyone to check out the programs CA has available.

6) Lauren Collins of the Church Avenue BID announced that 2012 calendars will be available for free early next year either at their offices or Church Avenue businesses. She’ll let us know when they’re available and we’ll post the information, but she’s very excited about how they turned out.

7) Reuven Lipkind of Senator Eric Adams’s office announced an Open House this Wednesday, December 7, 4pm-9pm at 572 Flatbush Avenue between Beekman Place and Midwood Street. We’re not really represented by Senator Adams in Ditmas Park, but I’ve seen him speak and it may be interesting to get to know him a bit better.

Again, please attend the next meeting on Monday, December 19 at 7:30pm, in the Community Room of United Cerebral Palsy, 175 Lawrence Avenue (between Ocean Parkway and Seton Place). And bring questions!

To get on the 70th Precinct’s email list, send a request to 70pctcommunityaffairs@gmail.com.

To contact the 70th Precinct Community Council, email 70PctCC@gmail.com or visit their blog.

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