Capt. Thomas Conforti, the commanding officer of the 112th Precinct, said his officers are working around the clock to address a recent rash of apartment break-ins. File photo
A string of residential burglaries has the 112th Precinct on high alert, officials said.
Capt. Thomas Conforti, commanding officer of the precinct, sent out a series of notices to the community after officers recorded a spike in home break-ins throughout the 112th and its neighboring precincts.
“All of the burglaries have involved the burglar entering into apartments through the windows adjacent to fire escapes,” he said. “In all the incidents, the windows were left open and unlocked.”
In response to the recent pattern, Conforti said officers would be keeping a close watch on fire escapes and asked that residents in neighborhoods like Forest Hills do the same.
Conforti said residents should refrain from buzzing anyone they do not know into their buildings and to keep lights on before leaving their homes vacant at night. And if anyone spots suspicious activity, the captain urged residents not to assume the suspect works for the building or a city utility company. Simple precautions like these, he said, could be what ultimately scare any intruder away.
“The common element in all these burglaries is that the criminal is enabled to enter through open and unlocked windows adjacent to fire escapes,” said Heidi Chain, president of the 112th precinct’s community council. “The captain is confident that through a partnership with the community, this problem will be solved soon.”
Chain also said a similar pattern of break-ins sprouted up in her neck of the woods nearly six months ago and has since resurfaced in different parts of the precinct.
Police Department crime statistics for the 112th Precinct showed that burglaries to date were exactly doubled so far this year when compared to the same time frame in 2013. The precinct recorded a total of 18 burglaries so far in 2014, compared to six last year. It was the only crime statistic to increase when compared to last year, aside from grand larcenies, which only rose from 39 last year to 40 this year.
Overall, crime in the 112th Precinct was down almost 3 percent, however. The precinct’s biggest reduction came in the category of grand larcey autos, which dipped from 10 last year to three in 2014.
Not far from the Forest Hills-based 112th Precinct, police have also recorded a similar string of home and apartment break-ins out of the 102nd Precinct, which covers areas like Richmond Hill and Woodhaven. Crime statistics showed that burglaries in that precinct were up almost 40 percent when compared to this date last year.
By Phil Corso
