UWS Grand Larceny, Robberies Spike In 2020, Cops Say

UPPER WEST SIDE, MANHATTAN — Spikes in robberies and grand larceny crimes are plaguing both of the Upper West Side's police precincts in the New Year, cops said this week.

Officers from both the southern 20th Precinct and northern 24th Precinct told the neighborhood community board on Tuesday that crime rates in both parts of the Upper West Side have been on the rise in 2020, compared to this time last year. There has been a 60 percent increase in overall crime in the 20th Precinct and a 22 percent increase in the 24th, data shows.

For the 20th Precinct, which runs from West 59th to West 86th streets, that spike has largely been driven by a 64 percent increase in grand larceny crimes, 20 of which happened in just the last week, NYPD data shows.

There have been 64 grand larcenies in the last 28 days compared to just 39 in the same time period last year.

"Grand larcenies are being driven mainly by fraud — that's what's pushing our numbers forward," a lieutenant with the precinct told the board.

NYPD data shows that six of the crimes were because of "false promises" made without "in-person contact," meaning people may have been scammed out of money online.

Eight of the crimes were related to credit cards, either someone stealing a card or stealing by opening a credit card account, and four were related to compromised bank accounts. There were also two cases of identity theft.

Also driving up the numbers were eight cases of shoplifting that were categorized as grand larceny, meaning the person must have stolen something that cost more than $1,000.

Meanwhile, in the northern precinct, the biggest problem has been robberies and burglaries, Commanding Officer Naoki Yaguchi told the board.

Robberies have doubled in 2020 from last year, with 16 happening in the last 28 days compared to just eight in the same time period in 2019. Burglaries are similarly up by 62 percent this year. There have been 13 in the last 28 days in the precinct compared to eight last year in the same time period, data shows.

The 20th Precinct also saw a slight increase in robberies the last month — seven in 2020 compared to five in 2019 — but officers in that precinct said the spike is likely to taper off.

Toward the end of 2019 there were a large number of robberies committed by young people, the lieutenant told the board, but that doesn't seem to be the case in the New Year.

"We are not seeing large numbers that we were toward the end of last year, so hopefully we're trending in the right direction," he said.