Two Southwest Brooklyn Precincts Experience Decline in Crime

Neighborhoods from Bay Ridge to Gravesend saw crime decrease by double digits in 2018, building on the drop in crime experienced across the area in prior years.

The 68th Precinct, which covers Bay Ridge, Fort Hamilton and Dyker Heights, showed a decrease in five of the seven index crimes (murder, robbery, burglary, grand larceny and GLA) as of Dec. 30, 2018. As of that date, the total drop in index crime in the precinct was 10.18 percent.

In 2018, according to the NYPD’s CompStat tabulations, there was a total of 768 reported crimes, compared to 855 in 2017. Murder was down 33.3 percent, with two in 2018 compared to three in 2017. Robbery was down 27.2 percent, year over year, with 59 in 2018 as opposed to 81 the year before. Burglary was down 23.4 percent, with 95 last year compared to 124 the prior year. Grand larceny was down 10.1 percent with 384 in 2018, compared to 427 in 2017. In addition, grand larceny auto (GLA) was down 7.5 percent, with 86 incidents in 2018 as compared to 93 in 2017.

On the other hand, incidents of rape were up in the precinct 23.1 percent; there were 16 in 2018, up three from the prior year; the same was true of felony assault, which was up 10.5 percent year over year, with 126 in 2018 compared to 114 in 2017.

Shootings were flat, year over year. In both 2017 and 2018, there was one shooting incident with a single victim in the 68th Precinct.

“We’re finishing the year about 10 percent down in crime,” Captain Robert Conwell told members of the 68th Precinct Community Council during the group’s December meeting. “We’re looking to continue that into the next year.”

Meanwhile, in the 62nd Precinct, which covers Bensonhurst, Bath Beach and Gravesend, crime was down 10.58 percent, year over year, as of Dec. 30, with 1,014 in 2018 compare to 1,134 in 2017.

Leading the decrease was robbery, down 28.3 percent, with 119 in 2018 as compared to 166 the year prior. In addition, felony assault was down 20.5 percent, with 147 in 2018 compared to 185 in 2017. GLAs saw the third largest decline, down 13 percent, year over year, with 67 in 2018, compared to 77 the year before. Finally, burglary was down 10.6 percent with 178 in 2018 compared to 199 in 2017, and grand larceny was down two percent, with 482 in 2018, compared to 492 in 2017.

There were upticks in two crime categories in the 62nd Precinct in 2018: Murder was up 100 percent, from one in 2017 to two in 2018 and rape was up 35.7 percent, with 19 in 2018 versus 14 in 2017.

Shootings in the precinct showed a decline — there was a single incident with one victim in 2018, compared to two incidents and two victims in 2017.

Both precincts showed much steeper declines in crime than the city as a whole, which saw a 1.38 percent drop in the seven index crimes between 2018 and 2017.

It was a somewhat different story in the 72nd Precinct, which includes Sunset Park, Windsor Terrace, South Park Slope and Greenwood Heights. There, crime was up overall 3.40 percent, year over year, with 1,124 crimes reported in 2018, compared to 1,087 in 2017.

The highest increase percentage-wise was in incidents of rape, up 45.5 percent, year over year, with 32 in 2018 compared to 22 in 2017.

Other categories that saw spikes were grand larceny, up 12.2 percent, with 470 in 2018, compared to 419 in 2017; robbery, up 9.5 percent, with 185 in 2018 compared to 169 in 2017; and burglary, up 5.6 percent in 2018, with 152 in 2018 compared to 144 in 2017.

Murder was flat; there were two in 2018, the same as the year before.

Two crime categories showed decreases from 2017 to  2018: Felony assaults were down 6.7 percent, with 208 in 2018 versus 223 this year, and grand larceny auto was down 30.6 percent, with 75 in 2018 compared to 108 in 2018.

In addition, shootings were down; there was one in the 72nd Precinct in 2018, with a single victim, compared to two shootings with two victims the prior year.