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Utica Avenue Subway Stop a Hotspot for Phone Theft, Police Say

 One of three entrances to the Utica Avenue station, outside Boys and Girls High School. Police say the station is a hub for phone theft.
One of three entrances to the Utica Avenue station, outside Boys and Girls High School. Police say the station is a hub for phone theft.
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DNAinfo/Victoria Bekiempis

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — The Utica Avenue subway station in Bed-Stuy is a mini public transportation hub, with transfers between local and express trains and connections to both the B25 and B46 buses.

But over the past few years the station has also become a hotspot for phone theft, according to officers from the 81st Precinct.

There were 362 reports of grand larceny in the neighborhood this year, almost on par with that of 2012, which saw 433 cases by year-end — numbers not seen since the early 1990s, according to police records.

But NYPD statistics have shown a spike in high-end electronic thefts, including iPhones, which last year topped the list of stolen goods.

Almost nowhere else in Bed-Stuy is that more apparent than at the Utica Avenue station, where, although there is a large police presence, victims are targeted and followed to other locations where the electronics are snatched, police said.

"People walk out of the train and immediately look at their phones," said Capt. Eric Perez. "We can't follow everyone."

Police stressed that commuters exiting the bustling station should be careful on their way to their homes or buses in order to not have the devices swiped.

The 81st Precinct, once a hub for violent crime in the city, has seen its numbers drop significantly over the years, with murder, rape, robbery and felony assault rates plummeting since the mid-'90s.

Much of the recent change has been due to impact zones in the southern section of the precinct, which flood the area with young officers, police said.

Now with violence down significantly, grand larceny is the next crime the precinct hopes to tackle by cutting off demand, said one lieutenant.

"Electronics are still the hot items being stolen," the lieutenant said. "Our strategy is to go after the people that are buying them."