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Crime Wave! Rockaway Sees 50% Surge In Major Crimes
By
Garth Johnston
Published Dec 26, 2011
Modified Dec 26, 2011
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Dec 26, 2011
Modified Dec 26, 2011
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Overall crime has been relatively calm in 2011, according to the NYPD, but not in the increasingly hip Rockaways where the Post warns of a recent "Tidal Crime Wave." And it sure has seen a surge. Still, crime on the peninsula is just a drop in the ocean of citywide crime.
Though the 100th Precinct (which includes Belle Harbor, Breezy Point, Broad Channel and other western parts of the peninsula) has, for another year, avoided any rape or murder charges it still saw a 144 percent jump in burglaries, 66 percent jump in felony assaults and 31 percent jump in robberies in 2011—in other words the number of major crimes reported in the area jumped 51 percent to 510 this year.
Neighbors the Post talked to sounded worried ("I get so paranoid. Who wants to look over their shoulder right near their home?" one 45-year-old woman told the tabloid. "I hope it doesn’t get too out of control.") but a little perspective helps. The area in the 100th precinct still has less crime than the 101st precinct which covers East Rockaway (where major crimes saw a 2.6 percent bump to 616 incidents reported). And the Rockaway's 510 major crimes in 2011 is a blip when you realize that more than 102,000 crimes were reported in the city this year! Not that that makes folks on the Rock feel much better.
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Garth Johnston
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