Kensington Crime Down 2%, D.I. Sprague Says; Groping Reports Up

Crime in Kensington is down 2% over the past year, Deputy Inspector John J. Sprague, the commanding officer of the 66th Precinct, told the Albemarle Neighborhood Association audience last Thursday, October 27.

“That’s the lowest it’s been since the NYPD first started keeping track,” he said.

The precinct saw its greatest dip this year in burglary and grand larceny auto complaints. Robbery--the forcible removing of a person’s property from his or her person or by threat--is flat, but felonious assault is up (by 12.9% according to the October 23 year to date [YTD] CompStat figures).

“We get spoiled here," D.I. Sprague continued. Quality of life in the precinct has shown “really incredible gains. Crime here is down 80% over the last 19-20 years.” For example, he said car theft was once at 1,800/year but not more than 140/year now.

Grand larceny, the theft of anything over $1,000 (including cell phones) is up as well, however. The October 23 figures show grand larceny up 17.6% YTD.

Rape, a felony, is forcible sexual assault, but “Pattern 9” forcible touching—the charge for many of the attacks in Park Slope, Sunset Park, and Windsor Terrace, i.e., the groping, or grabbing of buttocks or breasts, is not considered assault or rape. It is listed on CompStat as a sex crime, a Class A misdemeanor, with a maximum sentence of one year. Assault is any crime committed with a weapon or hand. Most assaults, including sexual, happen indoors among people who know one another.

In the past months, the 66th had two rapes reported, but unlike the 72nd Precinct, here they were “acquaintance" not “stranger” rapes.



Are there more sexual incidents happening now in the 66th? D.I. Sprague thinks not, although “more women are reporting it.” As a result, the precinct recently caught a guy on a bike, accused by two women of groping them in separate incidents reported several days apart (see more on this below).

Other points he made:

* From now on, Officer Stan Kushnir, the beat cop, will be patrolling by scooter, from noon to 8pm.

Since the meeting, on October 31, the KWTNeighbors Yahoo group reported two more gropings: one around Cortelyou Road, as well as another (maybe two) around CIA and East 9th Street. The guy, again a bicyclist, wore a blue hoodie. One of these incidents seems to have been the one reported on the Kensington Prospect as happening on October 19. We await a call back from the 66th precinct to shed more light on these incidents.