Saturday, January 8, 2011

Robberies up in Queens precincts

From the Daily News:

Queens residents might want to add one more thing to their list of New Year's resolutions: Guard your belongings more closely.

There were 119 more robberies in Queens in 2010, as of Dec. 26, a 2.9% jump compared with the same period in 2009, new NYPD statistics show.

"These are for-gain crimes. These are not crimes that have to do with emotions," said Maki Haberfeld, who teaches police science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Although Queens grand larceny complaints dropped 9% overall, that may not be cause for celebration, Haberfeld said.

The drop in grand larcenies and the rise in robberies show that the "businesslike" crimes are moving out of the office and into the streets due to high unemployment, she said.

"They have to look for alternatives for this illicit behavior and one of these might be robbery," Haberfeld added.

Incidents in the seven serious crime categories - murder, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, grand larceny and grand larceny auto - fell slightly in Queens according to the latest NYPD CompStat figures, a snapshot of crime activity in 2010.

Felony assault complaints fell 1.9% and rapes decreased 9.1%, but the picture wasn't all rosy in terms of violent crimes.

The number of murders ballooned 21% in Queens: 17 more people were slain compared with 2009.

1 comment:

georgetheatheist said...
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