GRAMERCY — Residents should be sure to keep their windows locked while the weather remains warm, as burglars continue to hoist up fire escapes and slip into homes with windows open, according to the commanding officer of the 13th Precinct.
A witness called police Aug. 21 after spotting a man on a fire escape in the rear of a building on E. 25th Street between Second and Third avenues, allowing police to arrest the thief as he exited the building, according to a criminal complaint.
“These are crimes of opportunity,” Brendan Timoney, commanding officer of the 13th Precinct, said at a community meeting Sept. 1. “They’re only in there for a few minutes and then they’re out the door.”
Burglaries are down overall in the 13th Precinct, which covers Gramercy Park, Flatiron, and part of Kips Bay, but there's been a pattern as summer weather provides burglars a chance to easily sneak into homes, according to Timoney.
There were 124 burglaries in the precinct since Jan. 1, compared with 171 in the same period in 2014. It is unclear from the numbers how many of those incidents stemmed from thieves accessing apartments through fire escapes and open windows.
Another crime of opportunity Timoney’s officers have been dealing with is car thieves swiping upscale cars from parking garages, he said. Several recent thefts have been tied to a theft ring detectives suspect operates out of Newark, after three rides were recently stolen from garages in the precinct that later turned up in New Jersey, according to Timoney.
“We have a lot of people leaving their keys in their cars in the garages,” he said. “People can walk in, no one sees them, and they just drive off.”
There have been 47 car thefts so far this year, an uptick from 32 in the same period in 2014, according to NYPD statistics.
