The 104th Precinct is starting to get robberies under control this year, Capt. Michael Cody, commanding officer of the precinct, told attendees at the Communities of Maspeth and Elmhurst Together civic meeting on Monday night. Forum Newsgroup photo by Jeremiah Dobruck.
The 104th Precinct believes it has a handle on the influx of robberies that’s plagued most of the city this year, and 15 newly assigned officers could help curb the trend even more, said the precinct’s commanding officer.
So far this year, there have been 95 robberies compared to 68 last year in the precinct, which spans Middle Village, Maspeth, Glendale and Ridgewood.
However, on May 7, Capt. Michael Cody told attendees of the Communities of Maspeth and Elmhurst Together (COMET) civic group that robberies dipped in the
last month and week compared to last year.
“We’re starting to see statistically that we have a handle on it, and it’s dropping a little bit,” Cody said. There were three robberies in the latest week of reported crime stats compared to the five last year during the first week of May.
“Robbery is one of the main issues this year,” Cody said.
He said that is because of a proliferation of electronic devices like iPhones and iPods that perpetrators are quick to snatch from people’s hands when they are not paying attention.
In addition, Cody said robberies jumped up this year because fewer people were out and about during last year’s frigid winter, which kept crime lower than this year’s mild season.
He urged residents to pay attention when they’re using an electronic device out on the street.
As an example, Cody said that on April 5 at around 4:30 in the
afternoon, a man was walking at 74th Street and 57th Road in Maspeth when he was jumped.
The perpetrator punched him and took his iPhone.
“Please try to be aware of your surroundings,” Cody said. “The young man wasn’t aware of his surroundings. He got punched; he got kicked; it was gone in a second.”
Most other crimes, Cody reported, have remained about even with stats last year or have gone down. Burglaries are about even with 109 this year compared to 108 at this time last year.
Cody credited a tightening of assault laws with creating a bump in felony assaults to 80 this year compared to 73 at this time last year.
And grand larcenies have so far decreased from 179 at this time last year to 157 this year.
Notably, auto thefts are down 36 percent with 67 this year compared to 106 at the same time last year.
Cody also said he has just received 15 new officers for the precinct that will be assigned directly to patrol.
It’s the largest number of new officers he’s received since taking command of the 104th 11 months ago.
“They’re all raring to go,” Cody said. Command downtown had been assigning new officers one or two at a time to the 104th, and he always ended up losing more officers to promotions and retirement than he gained, Cody said.
He was excited to receive the new manpower and quickly assigned them all to patrol during night shifts when the precinct receives the most calls.
“We’re happy to have 15 officers,” Cody said. “That’s a couple of extra cars out there.”
By Jeremiah Dobruck
