Commanding Officer of the 112th precinct, Capt. Thomas Conforti, has pledged to continue with community meetings so that awareness is heightened throughout the area plagued by burglars.
A little less than one month after the 112th Precinct organized a community meeting to discuss the burglary siege in the area with residents, the precint has seen a staggering statistical jump in burglaries reported over the last several weeks.
The original spike started on February 5. Nine incidents were reported between then and March 17 St. Patrick’s Day. Then, according to Capt. Conforti, they just stopped. At the meeting the CO cautioned residents that although he had significantly beefed up patrols, and there had been no strikes in the month since, they could not be sure that things would not start back up again because no arrests had been made.
An unfortunate prophecy made by the precinct commander, turned into a crime when the incidents began taking place again on April 13th. Three residences were burglarized, one each on Kessel, Loubet and Exeter Streets. Police say the thieves netted cash and some jewelry from each of the houses.
After the cops increased their presence in the area, the break-ins stopped for almost a month.
But on Saturday, April 13, the burglars hit again, breaking into three houses on Kessel, Exeter and Loubet streets and taking jewels and cash, according to police sources.
Last Saturday, thieves returned to the area and broke into another home where they again took jewelry. After the success of Saturday’s hit they targeted another home which they were unable to gain entrance to.
The alarming trend in the usually quiet, upscale community has seen a dramatic increase in this particular crime since last year when there were a reported 28 burglaries. This year, during the same time period there have been 53 break-ins. An even more disturbing stat is that the total burglaries in the precinct for the entire 28-day period for this month is up over six times that of last years numbers.
Police are asking anyone with information to call 911 immediately. The precinct has also announced the fact that it will work in conjunction with the community council to hold more informational sessions with the public as they become necessary.
By Patricia Adams
