Captain Thomas Conforti is one of few commanding offers in the city able to report a decrease in overall crime in his precinct.
Captain Thomas Conforti, Commanding Officer at the 112th Precinct which covers Forest Hills and Rego Park, spread some well received news to those in attendance at last weeks Community Board 6 meeting.
Conforti shared a statistic not common in the city these days––overall crime in his precinct showed a decrease of about 4 percent, while citywide crime demonstrated an average increase of roughly 3 percent.
The 112 demonstrated a decline in most of what are considered the major crime categories making it one of only 15 precincts of the 76 throughout the city that experienced a decrease in crime.
The total number of murders in the 112 dropped by 100 percent—there were two in 2011 and none this past year. Another decrease came in the number of rapes which dropped by almost 40% from 10 in 2011 to six in 2012 according to Comp Stat statistics.
The captain also reported a significant decrease in the number of vehicular thefts, with 103 cars stolen in 2011 as opposed to the 81 that were stolen this year––a difference of 21 percent.
Conforti offered plausible explanation for the near 30 percent spike in felony assaults he said “rose as a result of changes in the departmental classification of felonious assaults.” The rise he said is largely attributable to the fact that there was an increase in the types of assaults now grouped in with those now known as felonious assaults.
The precinct saw one additional raise, in misdemeanor assaults, which were up around 25 % from 192 in 2011 to 229 in 2012.
In addition to his statistical recap, the Captain was able to inform the crowd assembled that the precinct had arrested the iPhone thief who eluded authorities for more than two weeks, randomly snatching seven cell phones from victims in the vicinity of Queens and Yellowstone Boulevards,
As reported last week in The Forum the brazen thief returned to the same area for repeated attacks on anyone with an iPhone. And in the period between Dec. 20 to Jan. 2, there were seven iPhone stolen from the area around Queens Boulevard and 67th Avenue, Conforti said.
The suspect was arrested at the intersection of Yellowstone and Queens Blvds. only a short distance from his attacks. Witnesses identified him from a lineup and he was subsequently charged. The captain also informed the crowd that the suspect arrested was not working on his own, however and is believed to be part of an organized group of thieves. Conforti also stated that despite the fact that there have been no further attacks since the arrest, the department has reason to believe that there are two additional suspects still at large.
