June 9, 2011 By Christian Murray
The number of reported crimes continues to decline throughout Sunnyside/Woodside and LIC, according to police.
Captain Donald Powers said at the Police Precinct 108 meeting on May 31 that crime throughout the wider district had dropped 6% year-to-date, compared to the same time period one year ago.
While the number of major crimes that were reported in May was flat, the police made a number of significant arrests.
The police arrested the alleged perpetrator of a series of muggings of Sunnyside/Woodside women. The man, Paul Winston, would follow and rob women near the 52nd Street/Lincoln Ave. subway station during the hours of 10:00pm and 3:00am.
Cop of the month: Jason Hernandez
Meanwhile, the police believe they have apprehended two suspects who have been breaking into a number of stores/pharmacies on Queens Blvd. Powers said two men were arrested for breaking into a pharmacy in a neighboring precinct and they had exactly the same modus operandi.
The precinct presented the cop of the month award to Police Officer Jason Hernandez, who helped arrest a group of men that had robbed a grocery store at 61-25 Roosevelt Ave on May 20. According to Powers, about 7 men walked into the store around 10pm and stole beer and cash. As they left, one of the perpetrators slashed a store clerk above the eye. The wound required four stitches. Two hours later, after talking to witnesses, the men were apprehended and the witnesses identified them.
According to police records, there have been 481 crimes reported over the past year through Sunday, May 29, compared to 512 for the same period in 2010. (These figures are based on reported crimes that fall under the 7 major serious crimes: murder, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, grand larceny and grand larceny auto)
To date, there have been no murders, compared to two murders for the same period one year ago.
In other crime categories, there have been:
- Four rapes this year, compared to seven last year
- 60 robberies, compared to 73
- 38 felony assaults, compared to 53
- 95 burglaries, compared to 103
- 199 grand larcenies, compared to 179
- 85 grand larceny autos, compared to 95 for the same period one year ago
The police noted that grand larcenies were up. One of the reasons is that cell phones and other digital devices are being snatched from people who are not paying attention.
Featured Events
25 Comments
im sure they did a full background check of their victim before they committed the crime -___-
Aileen, some of our local kids – and they come from well to do families – are pulling off crimes. The police know about it. They do much, much more than smoke pot and they are vicious. I would say that robbing somebody the day after the death of a close friend is up there with nasty crimes.
Raquel thank you for specifying… “these particular kids”
jose, no one is smoking weed standing by a crowd of people…
those kids are actually trying not to get caught, meaning as far away from any nostrils as possible…
and YEAH, I GOT THE GRAFFITI MEMO… property, it’s wrong… yeah
about 100 times, thanks
The right to smoke pot ends where the non-smoker’s nostrils (and property) begin.
The right to do graffiti also ends where another person’s property begins.
Aileen, my family and I have been robbed: and another student as well – and I am talking FELONIES. And yup, the local punks are involved. Being robbed is up there with being raped: we feel VIOLATED. These particular kids are PREDATORS.
I ask myself that also, Krissi. I think that (a) the parents know and do not care; (b) they have given up; (c) they are afraid of their own children; (d) their heads are in the sand and they honestly do not know.
wait id like to retract my previous comment… i misread.
im neither. and im sorry you had to be a victim… but you cant generalize kids in this neighborhood. these robberies, muggings… i dont believe those are kids who are doing it. maybe if you leave something unattended some lil jerkoff is going to take it… but who’s fault is that. thats just new york for ya, not just sunnyside. i’m from the other side of qnz blvd and i know a lot of teens, non of them have the heart to do that shit or want to get caught doing that.
graffiti and smoking weed, yeah… that theyll put their ass on the line for ( i dont know why)
i know kids who steal from their peers, but i dont know kids who rob adults… and get away with it.
ill speak on behalf of the pot head graffiti writers… although what they do is illegal, they dont want to HURT anyone
also raquel, rocky, randall … im sorry if im coming off aggressive
i just really feel like there is a huge generation gap.
i dont think you guys know what exactly goes down… im just trying to help you guys understand.
please understand that i dont mean to sound like an arrogant teenager but its hard not to when addressing adults who share common view points with each other
If they are kids, why don’t the residents of Sunnyside Gardens let the parents know what silliness their children are up to and demand the parents take some action?
*hood.
both actually.
speaking as a kid from the good… i know facts about kids in the hood.
Aileen, you seem to know an awful lot about certain things: is that as a perp or as a victim? Speaking as a victim, I learned an awful lot about certain kids in the ‘hood!
no, i dont think smoking pot has consequences… other than getting arrested for it. other drugs, however, im sure have their consequences. but i dont think anyone is shooting up, snorting or popping pills in other peoples gardens… its probably weed.
i see the graffiti on skillman, it does suck. all the decent ones live on the other side of the blvd so im sorry you have to look at that.
and i was just meant to touch points on randalls comments regarding the rich drug using robbers who do graffiti
Aileen, they rob because they like it! It has very little to do with getting money – they enjoy hurting people. You think that smoking pot and doing drugs doesn’t have consequences? Why don’t you visit some of the buildings near Skillman and let the smell knock you out. And look at the tagging. You seem to know a lot about tagging! And yes, they have robbed people – because they ENJOY HURTING PEOPLE. Can you understand that?
oh snap… i wish i saw rockys comment earlier
yeah they are going into people gardens to do it because the 108 pct doesnt play that smoking in the park shit and kids arent allowed to smoke at home… god forbid their parents knew -__-
where would you suggest this activity gets done? or are you against it?
The punks in Sunnyside Gardens are into bad stuff – it is easy to say, “everybody has smoked pot” except that they are past that stage and they have also gone into people’s buildings and gardens to do it.
It’s not fair to say that the same kids who do drugs, steal and do graffiti… or any combination of the three.
if the kids you’re complaining about are rich, then why would they rob anyone? the drugs, okay, at least rich kids doing rich drugs is understandable… but, robbery? what’s their M.O? sell it and buy more drugs? yeah right, they’d be selling drugs before they’d go through the trouble of committing one crime to do another.
and if these kids are in fact rich, (which i’m not sure why it matters to you enough to use it as an adjective to describe them) then they aren’t good at graffiti because i don’t know them; in which case i hope they are caught… Theyre making the 7 line look ugly.
Lastly, if these kids are popping e pills (which by the way shouldnt involve loitering in a garden to take …just seconds), then i highly doubt that they want to rob anyone… they should be at a rave!
how do i know this?
…blame the generation gap. some of you adults may be a little too clueless
Juvenile crime records are sealed so I don’t know if they are even reported. However, there is a local “gang” of rich kids that is heavily into drugs including ex and they go into people’s gardens and do their thing. They are also into graffiti, robbery and other crimes. I believe in the broken window theory: they start out small and end up large.
I got curious and went on the nyc.gov site. Unless the information is buried within the numerous sub-pages, I don’t see where you’d even find out about the number of drug arrests. The breakdown by precinct is only the crimes listed above.
marijuana possession is decriminalized… and thats what most people in this neighborhood smoke.
other drugs that are done/sold, im guessing are done in less public areas… such as peoples homes
the amount of marijuana arrests the 108 precinct makes would blow all of your minds.
Raquel raises a good point – where are the drug possession arrests?
Stealing a cell phone is petty larceny – not grand larceny.
Well it looks like there was another one–at 50th and QB just a little while ago I passed the scene of an apparent accident. Lots of FDNY around, ambulance, police, and a fireman hosing down the street, which clearly had blood in it. Unless there is some kind of car fluid that is bright red? And only one car in the intersection so I conclude it was a car-on-person incident.
raquel: murder, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, grand larceny and grand larceny auto … drug use does not fall into any
susan: im pretty sure thats a felony…
I’m curious how they classify it when someone runs over a pedestrian, killing the person. And I’d really like to see reporting on how often that happens (even with no fatalities).
I’m MUCH more worried about being mowed down while trying to cross the street–even off Queens Boulevard–than I am about having my cell phone taken from me. And I do pay attention.
A suggestion for the 108th: go after the well to do creepy kids in Sunnyside Gardens who are big drug users – among other things. There is one street in particular that is very bad and the people who live in the Gardens know which one it is.