BUSHWICK — Homicides and shootings in Bushwick went up in the last month — a spike the neighborhood's top police officer insists will cool down by the end of the year.
The 83rd precinct saw three murders in the 28-day period ending September 13, according to NYPD statistics, up from zero during the same period last year.
There have been six murders so far in 2015, an increase from four during the same time last year.
While shootings are down this year — 12 so far in 2015 compared to 17 last year — five of this year's incidents happened in the last month.
Deputy Inspector Maximo Tolentino, commanding officer of the precinct, said he put a plan in place to combat the increase, including deploying more officers in certain crime-prone "corridors" and "zones."
"We're bringing more people [in] during the hours that we think we're going to have issues," he said in an interview. "We're concentrating our efforts there."
Tolentino said more police are now situated on streets like Broadway and Cornelia streets and Gates and Wilson avenues.
He declined to specify the number of additional officers deployed.
The deputy inspector told community members at a meeting last week he's "confident" the plan is already working.
"If something does happen, because our resources are already deployed in the area, they're getting to the area quicker than under normal patrol circumstances," Tolentino said in an interview.
Bushwick's homicides include a man who was stabbed to death at a party, a woman who was accidentally shot by her boyfriend, a homeless man who was beaten to death and a man who died after getting punched in the face.
Aside from shootings, overall crime numbers in the neighborhood decreased during the 28-day period ending September 13.
Burglaries — which have been a persistent issue in Bushwick — dropped by 27 percent, from 44 incidents last year to 32 during the same time period in 2015.
Robberies decreased by 24 percent, from 33 last year to 25 this year.
And grand larceny incidents went down by 43 percent, from 44 incidents last year to 25 this year.
Last month's decrease contributed to downtick in overall incidents for the year.
From the beginning of the year through September 13, major incidents were down by about 10 percent, from 1,244 last year to 1,119 this year.
"I think we’re in a good place," Tolentino added.
