These beachfront communities in the southernmost part of Queens started out as seaside resorts and playgrounds for the wealthy in the 1830s, but went through a precipitous decline after World War II. Many of the area's hotels and businesses shuttered, and several of the bungalows that lined the peninsula were either razed or burned to the ground to make room for staid public housing and nursing-home developments, or for urban-renewal projects that often weren't built, leaving behind abandoned lots that essentially became dumping grounds.

The changing economic fortunes of this area had varying effects on its crime rates. The 101st Precinct, with its high rises and housing projects in the eastern section of the peninsula and in Far Rockaway — one of the largest concentrations of public housing in the city — was hit hard by crime and drug use. In 1993, the area had nearly 2,850 incidents of major crime, including about 710 robberies, 800 burglaries and 460 car thefts, compared to 121 robberies, 136 burglaries and 78 car thefts, respectively, for the same categories in 2010.

The 100th Precinct, with the insular, gated community of Breezy Point on the western end and affluent Belle Harbor in the middle, had significantly less crime, even at the height of the crack epidemic.

Crime in both precincts has declined dramatically, dropping nearly 80 percent, from 1993 to 2010. That improvement was good enough to rank the Rockaways as the 10th safest neighborhood for per capita crime in DNAinfo.com's Crime & Safety Report.