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Shootings in Jamaica Drop by 40 Percent, Bucking Citywide Increase

By Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska | September 11, 2014 4:30pm
 “If you are taking guns off the street, shootings are going to go down," said Deputy Inspector John Cappelmann at a recent community council meeting in Jamaica.
“If you are taking guns off the street, shootings are going to go down," said Deputy Inspector John Cappelmann at a recent community council meeting in Jamaica.
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DNAinfo/Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska

QUEENS — The 103rd Precinct, historically perceived as a high-crime area, has seen a 40 percent drop in shootings so far this year, bucking an increase in gunplay around the five boroughs — a trend that police officials attribute to increased gun seizures.

As of Sept. 9, there have been only 13 shootings in the 103rd Precinct, which covers Jamaica and Hollis, the commanding officer of the precinct, Deputy Inspector John Cappelmann, said Tuesday night.

That's 38 percent less than during the same period last year, during which there were 21 shootings, Cappelmann said. And it's down 86 percent from 1990.

He added that the drop came because officers at the precinct made 74 gun arrests so far this year and confiscated the same number of guns, including a firearm that was used in three separate shooting incidents.

“There is a correlation,” Capelmann said. “If you are taking guns off the street, shootings are going to go down.”

In 2013, through Aug. 31, police officers in the 103rd Precinct recovered 67 guns, 10.4 percent less than this year, according to Cappelmann.

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Citywide, the number of shootings is up by nearly 8 percent this year, to 792 from 734. The 103rd Precinct accounts for less than 2 percent of these.

“It’s tremendous,” said Cappelmann referring to the decrease in a precinct that in recent times struggled with drugs, gangs and illegal weapons.

In 2012, there were 45 shootings in the precinct during the same period of time, and in 1993 there were 83, Cappelmann said.

Cappelmann said that some of the gun arrests came from warrants, others from traffic stops.

He cited an example of a driver, who was stopped by a police on July 20, near 204th Street and 100th Avenue in Hollis.

He said the officers recovered a loaded 9mm handgun from the car and the man tried to resist arrest, police said.

On Aug. 1, only two blocks away from that incident, on 205th Street and Jamaica Avenue, police made another arrest, during which they recovered a .38 caliber handgun and arrested a man, who was on parole for weapons possession.

Overall crime in the precinct is down about 8 percent this year, Cappelmann said.