Precinct Commander: We've Been Setting High Goals

Local police in the want residents to be careful this year with handbags, wallets and purses, as a rise in grand larcenies last year pushed the to a nearly 15 percent increase in overall crime.

“Even though we’re up 14 percent in crime [last year], we still had the second lowest amount of crime in Patrol Borough Queens North,” said Deputy Inspector Christopher Tamola. “We’ve been setting really high goals for ourselves.”

Tamola said despite last year’s setback, 2012 has gotten off to a good start in the precinct as a whole.

“Last week … we had the record low for crimes since they’ve been recording crimes. We had six crimes in the week, and normally we average about 20,” Tamola said.

The precinct’s commanding officer said he was also proud of the work that has been done over the last 12 months to prevent bank robberies.

“We have over 42 banks in the 112 Precinct … Last year we had two bank robberies, and in both those robberies, the person was apprehended,” Tamola said. “It happened to be the same bank robber — who might be the worse bank robber in the history of bank robbing — but we did catch him.”

Lately, burglaries have been an issue in the precinct, with 17 occurring in the 28 days between December 12 and January 8, according to a COMPSTAT release. Police passed out fliers Wednesday night, urging residents to protect themselves from burglaries with the following tips:

• Ensure all doors and windows are locked at night.
• Leave front and rear lights on at night.
• Activate a security alarm, if you have one, before going to bed and before leaving the house.
• Call 911 if you see any suspicious activity and give a good description.

Police officer Zena Vailes, the 112 Precinct crime prevention officer, said that tires and rims, as well as copper gutters, have been particular targets of interest lately.

There have been no homicides this year and one reported incident of rape.

Grand larcenies are still up in the precinct, by nearly a third, and it’s an issue that Tamola acknowledged.

“We’re trying to prevent the crime from happening. If we catch the guy, that’s great, but we’d rather not have it happen at all,” he said.