Burglaries, Larcenies Up Slightly In 114th Pct.
BY RICHARD GENTILVISO

Crime in the 114th Precinct continues to stay down. Complaints in the seven major crime categories (murder, rape, robbery, felonious assault, burglary, grand larceny and grand larceny auto) are down 6.6 percent through April 22, this year, compared to the same period last year. Burglaries are down almost 11 percent so far this year.

Inspector Brian McCarthy, commanding officer of the 114th Precinct, said burglaries, although down for the year, have recently become "problematic" at the April meeting of the precinct community council at Riccardo's.

"We had four bad weeks in a row," McCarthy said. The spike in burglaries over the 28-day period ending April 22 saw numbers shoot up from 27 to 46 for a 70 percent increase from 2006 to 2007 for the month.

In the week from April 16 to April 22, the seven reported burglaries were still more than the four that were reported for the same week last year, but McCarthy said that the number, seven, was still lower than what the precinct would normally record in a week.

In addition, recent arrests made by uniformed officers of the 114th while on patrol led McCarthy to say the tide was turning for the better.

Around midnight on April 7, officers of the 114th observed a man fleeing from 23-44 31st Rd. Suspecting a burglary, the officers pursued and eventually apprehended him, said McCarthy. The suspect, a Brooklyn resident, was found to have multiple arrests.

Two days later, on April 9 at 2:30 a.m., officers observed the lights were on at 69-35 Astoria Blvd., the business location for Jackson Hole. Upon investigating, two individuals were caught either trying to break into or remove the safe.

"These two arrests have turned the tide," said McCarthy.

A second crime category labeled problematic by McCarthy is grand larceny. This is basically felonious theft," he said. Grand larceny is also the most prevalent crime in the precinct, said McCarthy. Year to date, grand larcenies are up 10.7 percent.

Recent numbers showed 60 reported incidents of grand larceny last month compared with 50 the year before for the same period. In the last week, through April 22, grand larcenies did drop from 19 to 10, however.

"It is our most prevalent crime and it's very preventable," said McCarthy, estimating half the incidents could be avoided. "Thirty percent of the time, an item [eg. a pocketbook] is left visible in a car," he said.

Police Officers Gerald White, Joseph Chabus and Louis Rios were awarded Cop of the Month honors for March. All three have previously been recognized.

Leading up to an arrest on March 1, White conducted an investigation into a Steinway Street jewelry store suspected of purchasing stolen merchandise. After an undercover operation ascertained that the location was the site of trafficking, White obtained a search warrant and arrested the proprietor for trafficking in stolen property and illegal pawn brokering.

Chabus also conducted an investigation leading to a search warrant issued on March 6. Starting in October 2006, Chabus pursued a lead obtained from an individual found to have multiple arrests for stolen property. The suspect revealed a location where he used to sell stolen property, leading to the search warrant. Upon his arrest, the owner of the location buying the stolen property gave a statement implicating the original source for the lead as well as providing the stolen property.

Rios, who has the most arrests in the 114th to date this year, was recognized for multiple drug, criminal trespass and prostitution arrests in the Queens Plaza area.