PROSPECT HEIGHTS — Fears may be up, but burglaries are actually down across much of Central Brooklyn.
New York City Councilwoman Letitia James and State Assemblyman Walter Mosley will host a town hall with the commanders of the 77th, 78th and 88th precincts in Brooklyn Wednesday at Hope City Empowerment Center on Washington Avenue in Prospect Heights to address increased community concern around home burglaries.
But while residents may be clamoring for greater protection, the numbers don't necessarily bear out their fears.
Burglaries increased slightly in the 88th Precinct this year as compared to the same period of 2012. There were 19 burglaries recorded between the beginning of the year and Feb. 24, the most recent date for which statistics are available, as compared to 17 during the same period last year.
But the numbers are actually down in the 78th Precinct, which covers Park Slope and part of Prospect Heights, with just 16 reported this year as compared to 22 in the same span last year.
The most dramatic improvement, though, occurred in the 77th Precinct, which covers northern Crown Heights and much of Prospect Heights. By Feb. 24, there were 25 reported burglaries, less than half the number reported during the same period in 2012.
"We have a lot of burglaries, especially in areas where we have newer members of the community," the precinct's executive officer Capt. Leighton Myre told a particularly upset resident during a heated discussion of Stop and Frisk at the community council meeting last May.
The precinct uses that tool much more aggressively than its neighbors, in part, officers said, because of the relatively large number of burglaries — 313 last year, as compared to 212 in the neighboring and otherwise statistically identical 71st Precinct and 177 in the 78th Precinct.
