Thursday, January 5th, 2012

Catching up on some news that came out over the holidays…

While felony crime throughout NYC as a whole was up a tiny fraction in 2011 (0.2%), the Upper West Side showed a marked decrease.

The NYPD’s 20th Precinct, which covers 59th to 86th Streets from Central Park to the Hudson, posted the largest drop in the city — down almost 13% compared to 2010.

The Post had a brief article just after Christmas that included this snippet:

Law-enforcement sources told The Post that the commanding officer of the 20th Squad, Lt. Biagio Carbone, is partly responsible for the positive results. “He is involved in every case — no matter how big or small. He motivates people,” said one police source.

“There hasn’t [sic] been any homicides or shootings in the 20th Precinct this year to date,” the source noted.

Detectives have paid particular attention to the Amsterdam Houses, cleaning up the once crime-plagued area with the help of undercover operations, sources said. “Shootings, burglaries and robberies are all down in the Amsterdam Houses,” a source said.

The 24th Precinct, which covers 86th to 110th Streets, showed an almost equally impressive drop in crime — down nearly 11% for the year.

The 22nd Precinct (aka The Central Park Precinct) posted a notable, but statistically insignificant, drop of 1% in felony crimes. Interestingly, petit larceny was up 47% for the year in Central Park (153 incidents in 2011 vs. 104 in 2010).

I have to believe that number is slightly inflated due to the “sting” operation the NYPD conducted in the park during the spring and summer month. They managed to arrest 34 idiots between March & June alone using one of the oldest tricks in the book…

Those three precincts cover pretty much all of the Upper West Side, but I’ll throw in stats from the 26th as well. That precinct includes Morningside Heights (plus parts of southern Harlem). At least a portion of that area falls under the rough umbrella of my definition of the UWS, and the crime reduction there was noticeable as well — down roughly 10.5% for the year.

You can view a one-page summary of the crime statistics from each precinct using the links below:

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Tags: 20th Precinct, 22nd Precinct, 24th Precinct, 26th Precinct, Amsterdam Houses, Assault, Central Park, Central Park Crime, Crime, crime reduction, decrease in crime, felony crime, Lt. Biagio Carbone, major crime, Morningside Heights, New York City, NYC, NYPD, Police, Riverside Park crime, shootings, St. Nicholas Park, Upper West Side, UWS