13th/17th precincts / population 172,766
Gramercy is better known for its private, locked park than for its crime. A few Greek revival and Italianate townhouses give the neighborhood a dash of character, but so does Bellevue Hospital, which brings gunshot victims and the mentally ill to the area. Murray Hill, which extends north to 42nd Street, is as practical and fashionable as a button-down sweater.
Sometimes referred to as Curry Hill because of a strip of Indian restaurants and shops, it has attracted young college graduates looking for reasonable rents and a fratty bar scene.
Despite the general blandness of the area, it ranked way down at 57th safest for per capital crime in DNAinfo.com's Crime & Safety Report. Violent crime is very low here, but property crime is high, with 154 incidents per 10,000 residents. One particular problem has been grand larcenies.
There were 2,226 grand larcenies in 2010 in the 13th and 17th Precincts, or 129 instances per 10,000 people, giving the neighborhoods a rank of 64th out of 69 for this category. Yet while high-dollar thefts remain a concern, there has been progress.
Total crime decreased 22 percent in the 17th Precinct from 2008 to 2010, including a 42 percent drop in burglaries. During the same period, robbery was down 33 percent in the 17th Precinct and 18 percent in the 13th. These two enclaves also have the fifth lowest rate of car theft in the city. An uptick of 5 percent in reported rapes in 2010 is reason to give women pause, but the neighborhoods rank 23rd safest citywide for this crime category.
5%
Increase in reported rapes, 2009 to 2010
5%
Drop in grand larcenies from 2009 to 2010
Photo: Roam NYC
Two Witnesses Killed in Early-Morning Ambush
At about 4 a.m. on Oct. 4, 2010, Terrance Serrano, 22, and Rashawn Washington, 26, had left Roam, a club on E. 19th Street, and climbed into their parked SUV near Broadway. Surveillance cameras captured a dark-colored sedan pulling up alongside the parked SUV. Two men climbed out and fired several shots into the sports vehicle, killing both Serrano and Washington. The police believed that the men, both from Coney Island, had witnessed two separate murders. Washington was thought to be a key witness to the killing of Anna Surman, an elderly woman who had been shot in the courtyard of a housing project in 2009. Serrano was believed to be an eyewitness to the murder of his 19-year-old brother, Micuan, also in 2009. No one has been charged with the two mens' homicides to date.
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