You are reading

Crime Dips in Recent Weeks – But Many Remain Unhappy

Oct. 2, 2010 By Christian Murray

A handful of Woodside residents turned out to the Police Precinct 108 monthly meeting on Tuesday and claimed that teenagers are wrecking havoc at Doughboy and Windmuller parks.

These complaints dominated the meeting, in what was largely a low-crime month. The precinct, which covers the neighborhoods of Sunnyside, Woodside and LIC, reported that the crime rate was down 4% for the past four week period ending Sept. 26, compared to the same period one year ago.

The residents who live adjacent to the two Woodside parks rattled off a litany of complaints. They said they see brawls, kids smashing bottles, people snoozing in the bushes, naked people emerging from those bushes – to teenagers who intimidate seniors and women. However, their biggest complaint: the police don’t come out when they call.

The police, while saying it will monitor the situation more closely, told the attendees that Windmuller Park was the second most monitored park in the precinct- behind Lou Lodati Park, on 43rdand Skillman Ave. Furthermore, they said that they had limited manpower, particularly during high crime periods at night. Also, they are unable to make an arrest unless there is a clear, criminal violation.

Captain Donald Powers reported the following crime statistics for the 28 day period ending Sept. 26: there were no murders; 2 rapes (down from the 4 incidents reported for the same 28-day period a year ago); 20 robberies (up from 8, for the same period a year ago); 7 felony assaults (the same as last year); 22 burglaries (down from 30 last year); 34 grand larcenies (down from 36), and 16 grand larceny autos (down from 20).

The number of robberies was particularly high. Some of this is accountable to cell phones being snatched out of people’s hands, police said.

Sunnyside Gardens, which was subject to a number of incidents during July, has not had any problems since, according to Powers. The precinct has deployed about 15 auxiliary police officers to the neighborhood since. They are expected to leave the neighborhood shortly.

One crime that was not discussed at the meeting, yet occurred on Sept. 22, dealt with two men who threatened a man with an air pistol on Greenpoint Ave.  and 43rd Street.

The two men were arrested and are subject to “menacing and “harassment” charges.

email the author: [email protected]

4 Comments

Click for Comments 
Kuriakose Poulose

It has been observed the Crime Rate is increasing in the Parks in and around Woodside. Most of the Parks are misused by illegal immigrants who sit together and share Alcohol and drugs.

They make inappropriate comments on the people who visit the parks! It is a rare seen that an NYPD Officer come to the park and monitor these people closely!

Some of the youths who come to the Park attack parked cars around the park – such as destroying the paints making scratches, kicking on the cars etc. Since they do this in groups, nobody is dared to question these activities!

I hope NYPD will consider my points to make the area more safe for common people!

Reply
jimm

Me and my dad take walks around windmuller and doughboy parks at night. All we see is dog walkers.couples sitting on the benches and people exercising. People complain about kids playing basketball and the cops are not their that moment.police do have real crime to fight too.homeless people in the park .

Reply
sunnysider

I think if the police a short staffed then the residece of sunnyside woodside and lic need to organize a crime watch with volunteer during the day and night . we need to put a plan together for this. I will call up the pct mself and ask how it can be done. we are going into the holiday season with halloween and the tkg and then chan and xman we need to protect our famiiles and friends..I very much appreciat your report it is very valuable to our town to see what is going on. You are our eyes and ears because of your web site now we need to do something abouit it

Reply

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News