Major Crimes Up 40.7% In One UWS Precinct Over Oct. ‘22 Data: NYPD

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY - Though major crimes are on the decline in New York City overall, the Upper West Side saw several kinds of crime surge in October compared with last year’s data.

In the 20th and 24th precincts, which together represent the Upper West Side, major crimes from Oct. 2 to 29 fell by 5.5% and increased by 40.7%, respectively, compared with the same dates last year. In New York City, major crimes fell 3.3% during the same period.

In the 20th precinct, which spans West 59th to West 86th streets, robberies increased by 37.5% (11 recent incidents), transit crimes increased by 150% (five recent incidents), and burglaries increased by 300% (eight recent incidents). Petit larceny, or thefts under $1,000, also spiked 38.3% (83 recent incidents) year-over-year, per the NYPD data.

The good news? The 20th precinct crimes that fell in popularity this month were felony assault (down 11.1% with 8 recent incidents) and grand larceny (down 24.6% with 49 recent incidents). No shootings were reported in the precinct in either October 2022 or 2023.

In the 24th precinct, which spans West 86th Street to Cathedral Parkway, robberies are up 20% (12 recent incidents), felony assault is up 41.7% (17 recent incidents) and burglaries are up 38.5% (18 recent incidents).

In the same precinct, transit crimes decreased by 20% and petit larceny fell 45.3% year-over-year, per NYPD data.

Both precincts reported zero murders both years. Both precincts also reported one rape this month, up from zero during the same period in 2022.

Major felonies are still up by 32% over pre-pandemic 2019 data, and by 13.7% compared to 10 years ago, per the dataset.

But despite the recent increases since the pandemic, reported crime is still lower for the Upper West Side when compared to the late Giuliani administration. In 2022, reported crime was down by more than 22% compared to 2001 levels.