QUEENS — There was only one shooting in the the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica since late October, which the commanding officer said was "tremendous" given the neighborhood's violent history.
The precinct covering Jamaica and Hollis, which has long struggled with gun violence, recorded only one shooting since Oct. 24, 2014. The same precinct recorded a total of 17 shootings last year, said Deputy Inspector John Cappelmann, the precinct's commanding officer, during a community council meeting Tuesday evening.
The sole shooting this year took place on Jan. 2, when an aspiring R&B artist was shot around 5:30 p.m. at 158th Street and Beaver Road while on his way to a singing class.
The number of shootings in the area has steadily decreased over the years.
The precinct recorded 30 shootings in 2013 and 44 in 2012 — far below 150 shootings in 1993. Between Jan. 1 and March 1 last year, the precinct recorded two.
The drop could be partially credited to targeting repeat offenders. Numerous incidents can be tied to the same few individuals, Cappelmann said.
Last year, the precinct made several significant arrests, including “crew members and people involved in the narcortics trade,” people who were "either recidivists or prone to commit violent crimes time and time again," he said.
“Once they were arrested and taken off the streets, that made a tremendous difference,” Cappelmann said.
Overall crime in the precinct declined by nearly 17 percent this year, according to statistics provided by the NYPD for the period from Jan. 1 to March 1.
The number of burglaries fell by nearly 25 percent, from 41 last year to 31 this year.
There were 47 felony assaults this year, compared to 56 during the same period in 2014, a 16 percent decrease.
And robberies dropped by more than 7 percent, from 53 last year to 49 this year.
