Staten Islanders have always seen themselves as living in tranquil bedroom communities within the City of New York — close enough to enjoy its big-city treasures, yet far enough away to avoid the gritty downside of urban life. Never was that more true than during the 1980s and 90s when crime skyrocketed across the Big Apple. At the time, many neighborhoods in the other four boroughs were ravaged by crack-crazed felons, marauding teens and armed bandits who had some residents cowering behind locked doors. All the while, Staten Islanders enjoyed relative safety in their suburban enclave, with only pockets of the island experiencing violent crime — among them, New Brighton, Stapleton and Mariners Harbor.

To this day, Staten Islanders continue to live in the safest borough. But this also has been a period in which crime across the rest of the city has toppled to levels as low as they were in the early 1960s. On Staten Island, overall serious crimes were down nearly 77 percent in the 17 years since 1993, from more than 12,660 reported incidents. In 2010, there were just 2,926 reported: 17 murders, 63 rapes, 420 robberies, 484 felony assaults, 620 burglaries, 973 grand larcenies and 349 auto thefts, which dropped 93 percent during this period.