By Tom Nicholson
The 104th Precinct covers Ridgewood, Glendale, Middle Village and Maspeth.
The total numbers of crimes in all categories, except felony assaults, dropped in 2003 compared to the previous year.
Police attribute the decrease to tougher enforcement strategies such as Mayor Bloomberg's Operation Impact, which floods high-crime areas with extra police.
“Crime's been going down year after year,” an NYPD spokesman said. “This is part of a trend of decreasing crime in the city – chalk it up to better police enforcement.”
Loehle also attributed the decline in crime to better response times that were clocked in by police in the 104th Precinct in 2003 as compared to the previous year.
When responding to crimes in progress in 2003, police in the 104th Precinct got to the crime scene in an average time of 6.5 minutes and when responding to critical situations showed up in an average of 4.7 minutes, according to Loehle.
In 2002, it took police in the 104th Precinct 8.2 minutes on average to respond to crimes in progress or critical situations, the deputy inspector added.
While felony assaults were up 3.6 percent in 2003 over the previous year, homicides remained the same at three during both years.
Rapes were down by 6.2 percent, robberies were down by less than 1 percent, burglaries were down by 5.2 percent, and car thefts were down by 9.1 percent, according to Loehle.
Loehle said that in 2003 there were 13 rapes; 410 robberies, 227 felony assaults, 746 burglaries, 558 grand larcenies and 590 stolen cars.
Loehle said 2004 should be a watershed year for crime reduction in the 104th Precinct since 36 new officers will be added to the roster in upcoming months. The extra cops will hit the streets in the 104th Precinct since a part of Ridgewood was designated as an Impact Zone under Operation Impact II.
“The new officers will be on foot patrol in the Ridgewood area from 6 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. seven days a week from Cypress to Fairview avenues and Bleeker to Norman streets,” Loehle said.
Reach Reporter Tom Nicholson by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by calling 718-229-0300, Ext. 157.
