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Hallets Point Neighbors Call for Greater Police Presence to Curb Violence

 A police car parked near the Astoria Houses. A local community group says they would like to see more of a police presence on the Hallets Point peninsula.
A police car parked near the Astoria Houses. A local community group says they would like to see more of a police presence on the Hallets Point peninsula.
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DNAinfo/Trevor Kapp

ASTORIA — Hallets Points neighbors are calling for greater police presence and their own NYPD substation to tackle violence in the area as well as future development that's expected to bring an influx of new residents.

The Old Astoria Neighborhood Association, made up of residents and business owners along the Astoria waterfront, passed a resolution last week asking the NYPD to set up a substation on the peninsula and to have officers regularly patrol the area on foot or bicycle.

The group says it would also like to get more surveillance cameras set up in the region — a largely industrial area that's home to the NYCHA Astoria Houses — in an effort to thwart crime, according to president Richard Khuzami.

"There seems to be a spike in violence, and if that's the case, obviously something is inadequate," he said, pointing to recent incidents in the neighborhood — including gunfire that broke out on 27th Avenue in August, as well as a man who was stabbed to death in his home on 12th Street in June.

A pair of massive residential developments are also planned for the peninsula and are expected to bring thousands of new residents over the next several years, facilitating the need for greater security there, Khuzami argues.

The Durst Organization is planning to build more than 2,000 new apartments as part of its Hallets Point project, while a second development called Astoria Cove will create another 1,700 or so new homes.

"Since we're going to have such an influx of new people coming to the area, it might make sense to have [an NYPD} facility around there," Khuzami said.

The Hallets peninsula is located within the 114th Precinct, and the Astoria Houses is overseen by Housing Bureau Police Service Area 9.

Captain Peter Fortune, the commanding officer for the 114th Precinct, said the precinct works hand in hand with PSA 9 to police the region. They beefed up patrols in the area this summer after two incidents of gunfire were reported near the Astoria Houses during the same week in August, he said.

"We jumped on that pretty quickly," he said, saying the NYPD also put a SkyWatch patrol tower on the Astoria Houses campus in August, and that there have been no shootings in the area since.

In response to the residential development planned for Hallets Point, Fortune said the precinct will adjust it's operations to respond to whatever changes the neighborhood sees down the road.

"We'll adapt with whatever is built," he said. "We'll work with the community to keep it as safe as we can."

Overall crime in the 114th Precinct — which includes not just Hallets Point but the rest of Astoria, as well as parts of Long Island City and Woodside — is down just over 9 percent so far this year compared to this time last year, according to NYPD statistics.

But the numbers also show a spike during the most recent 28-day period that ended Oct. 11, with crime up more than 6 percent compared to the same 28-day span in 2014.