69th precinct / population 84,480
Canarsie was once known as a redoubt of Italian and Jewish families, but in recent years West Indians and others have moved to its blocks of neat bungalows to get away from the hustle and bustle of nearby East Flatbush and Brownsville. They also came to escape high crime — and mostly they succeeded.
The neighborhood never succumbed to the waves of violence that ravaged the rest of Brooklyn in the 1980s and 90s. Since then, crime has decreased significantly in the 69th Precinct, which covers Canarsie. The the overall crime rate fell there by three-quarters from 1993 to 2010, the trend mostly continuing in recent years. The neighborhood had 121 major crimes per 10,000 residents in 2010, placing it at 29th safest of 69 neighborhoods for per capita crime in DNAinfo.com's Crime & Safety Report.
Robberies were down by 10 percent from 2009 to 2010, and total crime dropped by 6 percent. The 69th Precinct has seen a stunning 95 percent drop in car theft between 1993 and 2010, with a remarkable 44 percent drop in 2010 alone. Still, problems remain.
Burglaries soared by a stunning 47 percent, to 253, from 2009 to 2010; felony assaults were up 24 percent in the same period. While shooting incidents were down 15 percent in 2010, they had risen 15 percent over the period from 2001 to 2010.
There were nine murders in 2010, up from six in 2009, a high total for a relatively quiet area. That statistic has been on the rise since 2001, and Canarsie ranks a disappointing 54th out of 69 neighborhoods for its per capita murder rate.
The neighborhood's first three murders of 2010 occurred in one spring week: Maritza Jolliffe, 53, a victim of a domestic violence stabbing; Sheriek Ellis, 35, dead from gunshot wounds; and a 23-year-old victim pronounced dead after being shot in the face when a gunman fired randomly into a crowd.
47%
Increase in burglaries from 2009 to 2010
68%
Decrease in robberies from 1993 to 2010
Real Estate Rift Leads to Violence
During the summer of 1991, the Fillmore Real Estate Company, on Flatlands Avenue near E. 93rd Street, was the target of three arson attacks. The firm had been under a federal court order to show homes to prospective black and Latino buyers in Canarsie, a predominately Italian-American and Jewish working-class neighborhood. That same summer, there was a series of bias attacks against African-Americans in the area, and a Pakistani-owned grocery shop on Avenue L was twice the target of arsonists. In August, Rev. Al Sharpton led a protest march through Canarsie, where he was met with taunts and jeers from angry residents. Two neighborhood residents were arrested in connection with the Fillmore Real Estate office firebombing: Brian Fining, 20, and Frank Scire, 20, both charged with civil-rights violations.
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