UPPER WEST SIDE — The Upper West Side is one of Manhattan's safest neighborhoods, with few murders and shootings. But when it comes to property crime, it is a crime leader, according to DNAinfo's new Crime & Safety Report.
The comprehensive study of crime in New York shows that grand larceny — the theft of a property worth more than $1,000 — is by far the most common crime on the Upper West Side, with 1,265 incidents in 2010.
That's more grand larcenies than in several neighborhoods that ranked as more dangerous than the Upper West Side in DNAinfo's analysis. For example, East Harlem had 18 murders in 2010 compared with three on the Upper West Side, and ranked No. 44 in overall safety compared with the Upper West Side's No. 18 spot citywide.
But East Harlem saw only 482 grand larcenies last year, while the Upper West Side clocked in with 1,265. Only Midtown, the Upper East Side, the Flatiron District and Murray Hill saw more grand larcenies than the Upper West Side in 2010.
To help curb property thefts, Upper West Side police constantly hammer the message that the public should stay vigilant, even in places where people feel most comfortable.
"We tell people, at Loews, watch more than the movie," said Officer Ross Dichter, the 20th Precinct's crime analyst, earlier this year. The 20th Precinct has even posted signs at the Loew's theater on West 68th Street warning film lovers to keep one eye on their valuables.
Starbucks, the gym, bars and restaurants are all common spots for property crime, police say. A typical theft occurs when someone leaves their purse on the back of their chair, and an enterprising thief snatches their wallet.
Like the rest of the city, the Upper West Side has seen a sharp drop in violent crime over the past few decades. One marker of the neighborhood's progress: a local nonprofit, the West Side Crime Prevention Program, closed its doors earlier this summer after 30 years in business because its crime-fighting services were no longer needed.
When the group was formed, drug dealing was rampant and executive director Marjorie Cohen's West 92nd Street block had seen four drug-related homicides in the space of six months, she told the West Side Spirit.
“In 1980, the West Side was like a wild west show, and kids were constantly being mugged. It just was not a safe place,” Mort Berkowitz, president of WSCPP, told the West Side Spirit. “A kid leaving school with a nice pair of sneakers, a new jacket, could be set upon.”
Those days are over, but the neigbhorhod is still home to some troubling, if isolated, incidents of violence. In July 2010, two women were attacked on the same day in Riverside Park. In June 2011, 82-year-old Gerald Abramobitz died after he was mugged in broad daylight on West 89th Street.
