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Chinatown Crime Nearly Doubles This Year, Police Say

By Julie Shapiro | January 26, 2012 2:52pm
Chinatown's Fifth Precinct saw an 89 percent increase in major crime in the 28-day period ending Jan. 22, 2012.
Chinatown's Fifth Precinct saw an 89 percent increase in major crime in the 28-day period ending Jan. 22, 2012.
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Flickr/lukeroberts

CHINATOWN — Crime is on the rise in Chinatown's Fifth Precinct, NYPD officials said this week.

The precinct, which also covers Little Italy, NoLita and parts of the Lower East Side, saw more rapes, robberies and burglaries in the last week of December and first three weeks of January than in the same period the previous year, said Capt. Gerard Dowling, the precinct's commanding officer.

Major crime in the precinct has jumped 89 percent in the 28-day period ending Jan. 22, 2012, compared to the same period in 2011, Dowling said.

"We're having a bit of a rough period," he told residents at the Fifth Precinct's Community Council meeting Wednesday night.

One reason for the spike is that crime was unusually low in the precinct during the same time last year, in the wake of the Christmas 2010 blizzard and other snowstorms, Dowling said.

The biggest increase was in burglaries, with eight reported over the past month compared to just two the previous year, according to NYPD figures.

Felony assaults are up from six to 13 year over year, grand larcenies are up from 28 to 42, and robberies are up from 9 to 17, according to NYPD figures.

The precinct also saw two rapes and three auto thefts during the 28-day period, compared to none the previous year.

Dowling said the precinct has been working hard to bring the crime numbers back down and that officers have made arrests in many of the incidents.

Police have cuffed 24 grand larceny suspects, 13 robbery suspects and 11 felony assault suspects in the past month, Dowling said.

"We're going to keep making these arrests," Dowling said. "We're going to turn this around."