By Leslie Albrecht
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER WEST SIDE — Pickpockets are targeting older women who ride the Upper West Side's M104 bus, police say.
While overall crime is down this year in the 20th Precinct, which covers 59th Street to 86th Street on the west side, police say there's been an increase in thefts on buses.
Last year at this time there were four reports of property stolen on buses. This year there have been nine such thefts, six of which have been on the M104 bus, said Officer Ross Dichter, the 20th Precinct's crime analyst.
All of the victims on the M104 were women older than 60. The oldest was an 89-year-old who was pickpocketed on her way to a shopping trip at Fairway Market on May 9. She boarded the M104 at W. 100th and Broadway and rode it to W. 76th Street.
When she got off the bus she discovered that her purse was open and her wallet was missing.The thief made off with the victim's credit cards, Social Security card, Medicaid card, Metrocard and $26 in cash.
It's not known exactly where the thefts are happening on the M104's route, which stretches from Harlem to the Port Authority bus terminal. The victims usually notice the missing property when they get off the bus, Dichter said.
In response, police have stepped up patrols on the M104. Officers have also been given booklets of photos of repeat offenders to carry with them when they're out on patrol, so they can spot crooks more easily.
A typical case involves a woman who unzips her purse and takes out her wallet to pay bus fare, Dichter said. She becomes a target when she forgets to close her purse.
"Ten minutes later, when they're getting off the bus they discover that their bag was unzipped," Dichter said.
That's what happened to June Brown, 70, of W. 86th Street, a couple of months ago. She said her wallet was stolen on a crowded M104. She discovered the theft a few minutes later when she wanted to pay for something at Europan Bakery Cafe on Broadway.
"It was a nuisance," Brown said. "It wasn't a violent crime, but it was a pain in the ass."
Brown said she had to cancel credit cards and debit cards, so a friend loaned her cash for a few days. The wallet also contained sentimental items such as a ticket stubs from a trip to Epcot Center.
Brown said she thinks the thief was probably watching her on the bus and struck when she was in a crowd of riders getting off the bus. "I'm more aware now," Brown said.
"That's terrible," said 58-year-old Harlem resident Joyce Clemente, of the bus thefts. "It feels like they're invading your privacy."
Clemente said she always stays alert on the bus, watching her bag and keeping an eye out for suspicious characters.
Judith Cohen, a 66-year-old retired Deutsche Bank employee who rides the M104 about twice a week, put the blame for the theft increase on bus service cuts.
She said she sometimes waits for up to half an hour for the M104, and when it does arrive, it's jam packed. That makes easy pickings for thieves, Cohen said.
"The more crowded the bus becomes because of cutbacks, it's easier for pickpockets to work," Cohen said. "We have to wait a long time, people get really annoyed, so maybe they don't pay attention to their belongings."
Beatrice Blanco, 85, said she doesn't worry about pickpockets on the bus, though she was a victim once.
Years ago she was riding the M104 when a man snatched her wallet. She noticed right away and told the driver. He stopped the bus and chased the crook down as fellow passengers applauded, Blanco remembers.
The experience didn't scar her. She said she's not nervous about riding the bus. "I'm a fatalist," Blanco said. "If it's going to happen, it happens."
The bus thefts are grand larcenies, the 20th Precinct's most common crime, according to data on the precinct's website.
Overall reports of grand larceny in the 20th Precinct are down 21 percent this year, and overall crime is down 14 percent compared to last year.
