UPPER WEST SIDE — A fleet of officers is flooding major retail corridors this week to address an uptick in shoplifting in the neighborhood, NYPD sources said.
From this Tuesday through Saturday, five plainclothes officers from the NYPD's Burglary, Larceny And Surveillance Team (BLAST) will be stationed along major commerical stretches in the 24th Precinct to try to catch shoplifters in the act, said Capt. Timothy Malin.
In addition, about 15 other officers both from inside and outside the precinct are joining the operation, patrolling in uniform and in plainclothes at neighborhood stores, Malin said.
The BLAST members are "really good at picking up recidivists. They dress like shoppers. They’re really good at what they do," he explained.
The operation comes after police busted a crew that stole merchandise from a Downtown store and then returned it to the shop's Upper West Side location for a $2,000 refund.
The crew, made up of three men and two women, were arrested this month, but Malin could not provide further details because the sting is ongoing.
Grand larcenies — or thefts of items above $1,000, including credit cards — more than doubled in the week from Feb. 2 to 8, compared to the same period last year, NYPD data shows. The precinct counted 11 grand larcenies during the weeklong period compared to five during the same stretch in 2014.
However, grand larcenies are down during the 28-day period from Jan. 12 to Feb. 8 — with 38 occurring this year compared to 42 in 2014, data shows.
Grand larcenies represented the top crime category in the 24th Precinct last year, accounting for 563 out of 1,020 major crimes, according to the NYPD.
