QUEENS — Local elected officials are expanding their efforts urging the city to create a new police precinct in Southeast Queens, which they said is not adequately protected.
The proposed 116th Precinct would be carved out of the southern portion of the 105th Precinct and would serve areas such as Laurelton, Springfield Gardens and Rosedale, officials said.
Currently, the 105th Precinct stretches from the North Shore Towers in Glen Oaks to Rosedale, near JFK, a distance of nearly 10 miles.
The precinct also includes neighborhoods like Queens Village, Cambria Heights, Bellerose, New Hyde Park and Floral Park, covering a total area of about 13 square miles, nearly half the size of Manhattan, according to the office of Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, who is backing the efforts, which have preoccupied local officials and residents for several years.
According to Katz, the precinct’s vehicles currently travel more than 1,000 miles per week due to the long distances within the precinct boundaries.
There is a satellite NYPD station in Rosedale, but it closes at midnight and employs mostly civilians, according to Councilman Donovan Richards' office.
Richards, who represents Rosedale and Laurelton, said the issue has become his top priority this year. In January, he sent a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio urging the administration to create the new precinct.
“Constituents in my district deal with some of the longest response times due to the 105th Precinct patrolling the largest area in the entire city,” the letters read.
“The satellite precinct in Rosedale is not enough to help alleviate the burden on officers who are spread too thin,” Richards also wrote.
Councilman Barry Grodenchik, who serves Glen Oaks, Bellerose and Queens Village, is working on a resolution demanding that the city divides the 105th Precinct.
The resolution will soon be introduced to the City Council, he said.
“This is something that we will be pushing until it gets done,” he said. “[Local residents] deserve to have a full precinct.”
So far this year, overall crime in the 105th Precinct is down 3.7 percent compared to the same period last year, according to statistics provided by the NYPD for the period ending Feb. 14.
But last year, the 105th Precinct recorded 8 homicides, 37 rapes, 257 robberies and 360 felony assaults. There were also 358 burglaries, 679 grand larcenies and 232 auto thefts, a total of 1,949 incidents, more than in any other precinct in the entire borough.
The 100th Precinct, covering the Rockaway Peninsula, had the lowest number of crime incidents in Queens last year — 501.
The NYPD referred the questions about the proposal to the mayor’s office.
Mayoral spokeswoman Monica Klein said in an email that “this administration is committed to protecting all our city’s neighborhoods, and NYPD is always open to discussions on additional ways to keep New York City the safest big city in America.”
She did not provide additional details.
