News from the 66 Precinct

Only 4 weeks to go to the end of the year, and Deputy Inspector John Sprague, commanding officer of the 66 precinct, anticipates riding a “very successful year to a flat finish.” So far the 66’s overall crime stats for the year are down by 9%, D.I. Sprague said at the Thursday, November 18 Police Community Council meeting. In October the precinct’s robbery figures were up 8%, but by November they had cooked down to 3%. He’s counting on that reduction to hold. And in more good news for the new year, he said there would be no cuts in personnel at the 66.

During the week of October 11-17, there was a spike in robbery figures citywide. The year-to-date robbery figure was 29% higher than for 2009. Robberies in the 66 for the same week, however, increased by only 6.6% over 2009, i.e., from 137 to 146, but its 28-day figure for robbery went up 20%, from 15 in 2009 to 18 in 2010. This figure slightly exceeded that for citywide per cent for 28-day robbery, or 18.8%.

The precinct sees a pattern of theft at ATM machines. Nonetheless, it has knocked down grand larceny to -18.6%  of last year’s figures for the same date. Grand larceny includes I.D., bank and ATM theft, among other things. He attributed this reduction, in part, to the precinct's crime prevention outreach program. People, he said, are learning to shred personal information and not leave stuff in their cars.

Many of the crimes in Kensington are committed by young people hitting on people their own age or up to their 30s. “If you don’t pull your cell phone out of your pocket when you come out of the subway, the perps wouldn’t know you have it,” Sprague suggested.

Other points he made: What’s lost in eliminating foot patrols is the community interaction. The more people talk to the police, the better for both. It’s an exchange of information and trust. “It’s good that people get all involved in crime,” he said, as they did at the October ANA meeting.

A stabbing occurred on 13 Avenue recently. Since it fell beyond the sectors (G/K) covered by the 66’s weekly crime stats for Kensington, The Kensington Prospect was not notified. On the other hand, the precinct believes the perp who killed and dumped the All Soul’s Day body on Clara last year (Nov. 1, 2009) is now dead.  It also thinks it arrested the perp who mugged and robbed the 67-yr old woman on Dahill last year. Because the perp blindsided the woman, identification has been difficult, and there were no videotapes to assist.

The Cop of the Month was a good-looking woman, P.O. Doliscar, who was flagged down on the street by man just robbed of his cell. She sprinted after the 2 perps and caught them before the report hit 911. The perps had been active in other precincts, too. Her family was there to witness  D.I. Sprague's presentation of her award.

To place the 66 in citywide perspective, check out the the maps and tables at NYC.gov’s My neighborhood statistics at http://gis.nyc.gov/ops/mmr/mmrmap.jsp Here the 66 is always shown in pale blue, in other words, at the bottom of crimes reported in NYC whether those are rape, murder, assault, etc., or any other indicator crime figures.

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