Burglaries Down 28% in Red Hook This Year

RED HOOK, BROOKLYN — So far this year, recorded burglaries in the NYPD precinct covering Red Hook, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, the Columbia Waterfront and a sliver of Gowanus are down about 28 percent compared to the first five months of 2015, according to police records.

Burglary reports in the area hit a 10-year high last year — at 132 burglaries, compared to 96 the year before — and threw the neighborhood into a state of paranoia. One resident of a brownstone on Third Street near Smith Street in Carroll Gardens, for example, found $20,000 worth of family jewelry stolen from her home last August — just two weeks before her wedding day.

But if the downward trend in local burglaries holds for the rest of 2016, we could be looking at levels more on par with 2013 and 2014, which were historically low on break-ins.

This trend was even stronger in the 78th precinct next door, which covers the majority of Gowanus and all of Park Slope.

And there's more good news for the 76th: Despite the shocking (and still unsolved) recent murder of Red Hook resident Sharon Whigham, Red Hook's precinct recorded fewer major crimes in almost all categories this year than it did during the first half of 2015.

Only murders and auto thefts ticked up.

The most recent crime statistics released by the 76th Precinct show that through May 29:

• 2 murders were recorded, compared to 1 during the same period last year
• 2 rapes were recorded, compared to 2 during the same period last year
• 36 felony assaults were recorded, compared to 43 last year
• 79 grand larcenies were recorded, compared to 100 last year
• 34 burglaries were recorded, compared to 47 last year
• 12 auto thefts were recorded, compared to 10 last year

Brooklyn statistics

The NYPD's weekly crime updates track major crime categories, such as rape, grand larceny (crimes against property worth at least $1,000, or certain types of property, like credit and debit cards), burglaries and felony assaults.

Combined statistics from the police precincts covering Brooklyn North and Brooklyn South show that there were 11,198 major recorded crimes in Brooklyn through May 29, compared to 12,054 during that period in 2015, a drop of about 7 percent.

The borough saw 40 murders through May 29, compared to 47 during the same period last year, a decrease of 15 percent.

There were also 117 recorded Brooklyn shooting incidents and 141 shooting victims in 2016, compared to 173 incidents with 199 victims in 2015.

New York City statistics

Citywide statistics show that recordings of major crimes remained about even through May 29 when compared to last year (38,920 incidents compared to 38,943 in 2015).

A total of 124 murders took place, down from 140 through May 29 last year. (These are historically low numbers, as the city recorded 2,262 murders in 1990.) Burglaries and robberies in 2016 were also down.

But rapes have increased this year to 563, compared to 519 last year. Felony assaults and grand larcenies were up as well.

Top image courtesy of Yumi Kimura/Flickr