In Upper West Side, a wealthy neighborhood neighboring Central Park in Manhattan, New York City, residents are raising concerns about public safety as crime rates continue to soar. Gale Brewer, a senior Democratic city council member, recently sent a letter to the new NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch, urging for more police presence in the area to maintain community safety.
According to Brewer’s letter dated November 22, she expressed worries on behalf of Upper West Side residents about the decreasing police force in the local precincts. Over the past year, crime rates and violent incidents recorded in the 6th precinct, which includes the 24th, 20th, Central Park, and Midtown North precincts serving Upper West Side, have seen a significant increase.
Brewer acknowledged the calls from local community organizations, such as the Upper West Side Coalition of Block Associations, to bolster police forces. She noted that at a community board meeting in September, the police presence at the 20th precinct had drastically reduced from 120 officers to 79.
“The entire community feels the reduction in police presence, which has heightened public concerns for safety,” she wrote in the letter.
Brewer cited instances of violent attacks in the vicinity of Columbus Avenue and West 86th Street happening too frequently, instilling fear among the residents. She highlighted a shooting incident at the intersection of West 72nd Street and Broadway on October 31, followed by another shooting near West 68th Street and Columbus Avenue on November 7.
Prior to these violent incidents, the police had assured regular patrols in busy areas like West 71st Street and Broadway. However, residents were informed that the intermittent patrolling was due to inadequacy of officers to maintain a stable police deployment when the shootings occurred.
“To address these issues, I strongly urge the NYPD to increase police presence at the 24th, 20th, Central Park, and Midtown North precincts to tackle public safety problems and improve the quality of life for Upper West Side residents,” the letter concluded.
Brewer’s post garnered 40,000 views within a day, and she also shared an exclusive report from the New York Post regarding the surge in crime rates in Upper West Side.
According to the New York Post’s report on November 30, from the beginning of the year till now, the 20th precinct in NYPD has seen an increase in serious crimes compared to the same period last year: robbery rose by 31%, felony assaults by 14%, burglary by 31%, and grand larceny by 6%. The overall serious crime rate has increased by 6% over the same period last year.
The report highlighted a case on November 24 where a 57-year-old woman named Jenny Zhou was targeted by armed robbers in an Acura while she was parking her BMW X7 worth $100,000 on Riverside Boulevard. Despite attempts by bystanders to intervene, the robbers brandished a gun and carried out the robbery.
A week before this incident, a 44-year-old woman was also attacked at daylight by two armed robbers in an Acura demanding her wallet and keys to her Mercedes-Benz at gunpoint. Although the victim managed to retrieve her car afterward, the traumatic experience has left her feeling anxious whenever someone in a mask passes by her.
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