Parolee responsible for car break-in spree

From LIC Post:

The police believe that they have nabbed a man responsible for a large number of neighborhood auto break-ins.

Long Island City—from Court Square through Hunters Point—has been subject to about 60 auto break-ins in recent months, according to Captain Brian Hennessy, the commanding officer of the 108 police precinct. However, an August 24 bust has brought that spike to a halt, he said.

Hennessy said the police caught the perpetrator breaking into the cars by wrapping his fist up in clothing and punching the windows.

They arrested Rafael Medina, a 45-year-old from the Bronx, who was out on parole when he was busted. He is back in prison.

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Potential safety problem identified in Rockaway

"On B90 street and Rockaway Beach Blvd., new A.R.G.U.S. cameras from the NYPD were installed, but the view is obstructed by these shipping containers in the CVS parking lot. This has created the perfect location for someone to hide and commit crime. Mugging, rape, etc. There also are no street lights, which defeats the purpose of the camera." - anonymous

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Some want Forest Park to have its own precinct

From DNA Info:

In the wake of two sexual attacks on joggers within the past five months in Forest Park, local advocates and elected officials want the city to create a new precinct devoted solely to the park, similar to the one in Central Park.

Proponents said the spate of attacks merits a precinct that will exclusively monitor the 550-acre greenspace. A 23-year-old jogger was Tasered and sexually assaulted in the park in March, and a 69-year-old woman was raped in the park last Monday near Forest Park Drive and Myrtle Avenue.

“It doesn’t have to be a big precinct,” said Ed Wendell, president of the Woodhaven Residents' Block Association. “But that would guarantee police presence there and it would make the park a lot safer.”

Although the description of the attackers in both incidents is similar — both are men described as being about 5-foot-9 and approximately 35-years-old — the sketches appeared to be of two different men, cops said.

Following the first incident, police created a special two-officer police unit to patrol the park on a daily basis from approximately 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, who represents Ridgewood, Middle Village, Glendale and Woodhaven, and who jogs in the park, said “a dedicated precinct for the park is an idea that is worth exploring.”

Critics said that the park struggles with a number of safety issues, such as lack of lighting in the early hours of the day along its main roads, including Myrtle Avenue.

“There is a good number of people who are out jogging, walking their dogs around that time and all the lights are out,” said Wendell, who said early-morning joggers have to run with flashlights at Victory Field, near Myrtle Avenue and Woodhaven Boulevard.

A spokesman for the Department of Transportation said in an email that the outage at Myrtle Ave. and Woodhaven Blvd. near Victory Field "appears to have been caused by vandalism" and that "the agency is currently working with the Parks Department here and will also discuss potential enforcement with the NYPD."

If Flushing Meadows doesn't have a dedicated precinct, then Forest Park isn't getting one.

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Flushing Meadows still #2 in violent crime

From the Wall Street Journal:

Serious felonies rose in New York City's largest parks during the spring months this year, increasing 44% for April 1 to June 30 compared with the same period in 2012, according to a New York Police Department report.

There were 128 felonies in the city's 31 biggest parks from April 1 to June 30, compared with 89 in the same period last year, according to an NYPD Compstat report.

The increase comes on the heels of a park-crime spike of 7% in 2012, compared with 2011—the biggest year-over-year jump in half a decade, NYPD statistics show.

The report didn't include historical data for crime in parks. Crime in Central Park has reached historical lows in recent years, according to NYPD data for the park's precinct. Major crimes fell nearly 73% from 1990 to 2012 in Central Park, according to the NYPD, and robberies went down more than 90%, from 152 in 1990 to 15 in 2012.

Central Park saw the most serious felonies in the spring with 37 reported crimes—including a rape, two robberies and five felony assaults.

Flushing Meadows Park in Queens had the second-highest number of serious crimes with 27, including two reported robberies and two felony assaults, according to the report.

In 2012, there were 354 major felonies in the city's largest 31 parks, up from 331 in 2011.

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Van Bramer's house burgled

"Friday, between 4pm and early Saturday am, there was a break-in at the home of Dan Hendrick and Council Jimmy Van Bramer in Sunnyside Gardens, Queens. According to police at the scene Saturday morning, the intruder came in the front door and went out the back. The back faces a common court with 47th Street and 39th Avenue, so one could escape from another direction than the street entrance used to enter the premises. The house is located in the 108th precinct.

Plain-clothed detectives combed the neighborhood today, knocking on doors to find out if anyone saw anything out of the ordinary in the time. The detectives were called in from other precincts in addition to those of 108 Precinct. They did not reveal if anything was taken.

There is currently a 24-hour surveillance in process, and a fingerprints expert, clad in a white jumpsuit, from the onsite Mobile Crime Scene vehicle, was there Saturday evening taking a thorough inventory of fingerprints from the house.

When we asked whether the door had a Medeco or other lock, the officer said, "I'm sorry, but I cannot discuss an ongoing investigation."

The 108 Precinct which includes an large area of Western Queens, is among the precincts city-wide with a low rate of crime." - anonymous

There's more of the story at Sunnyside Post.

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Blast from the past

Back in 2001 when this mailer went out, Mike Bloomberg made a big deal about putting an end to racial profiling. So much for that.

UPDATE: A federal judge has ruled stop-and-frisk unconstitutional.

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Problems once again at public pools

From A Walk in the Park:

Police and Park Enforcement Patrol officers working in and around the city pools not only had to battle stiffing temperatures during the heat wave last week but also unruly patrons.

The NYPD arrested at least 13 people in Parks Department pool related incidents NYC Park Advocates has learned.

The charges ranged from Inciting A Riot, Resisting Arrest, Gang Assault, Robbery, Assault, Criminal Possession of A Weapon.

Several pools were temporarily closed to quell the violence and more than a dozen lockers were robbed.

Nice Astoria Pool report here. But my favorite is this one:

Police arrested a Washington Heights woman who created quite a disturbance when she refused to go quietly after putting on a show for pool patrons. According to law enforcement sources, Raiz Nunez, 21, was wearing a pink thong bathing suit with white sandals and dancing, shaking her behind while holding on to a railing in the deep end treating it like a stripper pole. The audience chanted as she gyrated and encouraged adults, and then children to smack her behind which some obliged.

The incident prompted some patrons with children to leave and caused a larger crowd to gather.

"She thought she was on the pole, and this would get her some attention and it did," said an officer at the scene.

She was asked to leave. Things escalated while she was being escorted out by police and PEP officers attempting to remove her from the premises.

"She was saying that she looks good and 'you are all just jealous that's why you're doing this.' She looked liked SpongeBob SquarePants," said an officer referring to the woman's apparent non hour-glass figure.

So for all those people who you hear saying, "I wish there was a free public pool in my neighborhood!"

Trust me, you really don't want one.

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Security cameras coming...eventually

From the Queens Courier:

Police will install new sets of eyes in parts of Briarwood, Jamaica and Pomonok, according to a Queens lawmaker.

Seventeen NYPD security cameras are coming to the area’s high-traffic locations thanks to $600,000 in funding secured by Councilmember James Gennaro.

They can be found around Rufus King Park in Jamaica, near Archbishop Molloy High School and along Hillside Avenue, Jamaica Avenue and Parsons Boulevard, officials said.

Installation is slated to be completed by the city’s police department within two years.

It takes 2 years to install cameras?

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Illegal street parties at the Point

From the Times Ledger:

Residents of a serene North Flushing block spent six weeks tracking down the elusive source of blaring music — and were shocked to find it across a river and more than a mile away.

Peter Condiles lives in the leafy section of Flushing north of downtown where lawns, driveways and carefully manicured bushes are the norm.

It was a quiet place to grow up and live.

“At least it use to be,” he said.

On May 11, Condiles was awakened by loud music pulsating through the walls of his home.

When the racket returned the following weekend, he began walking around the neighborhood, thinking someone might be throwing a party.

But the sound seemed to be playing tricks on him.

Main Street? Linden Place?

Just when the lifelong Flushing resident thought he had cornered the source of his sleepless nights, the sound would vanish.

Condiles had been in contact with another neighbor also seeking the source of the pumping bass, Flushing activist Paul Graziano, and the two spent several evenings driving around, ears tuned to the night air. They went as far as College Point Boulevard before they agreed the sound must be coming from farther away, across the Flushing River.

After another unsuccessful venture into Corona, on June 21 Condiles stumbled upon hundreds of people congregated in Willets Point, a gritty area of junk yards and auto shops across from Citi Field and more than 1 1/2 miles from his house.

“There were between three and five cars or vans. Each one had its trunk or back doors open and maybe 20 or 30 speakers on the doors,” he said. “They were all playing the same thing.”

Condiles and Graziano believe the combined amplification power of the souped-up speakers had sent sound waves bouncing across the Flushing River, off of building facades and into their quiet enclave — and they want the parties, which have been driving neighbors nuts, to stop.

Deputy Inspector Ronald Leyson, commanding officer at the 110th Precinct, said police had already driven the pop-up parties — which may be organized through social media — from around Meadow Lake inside Flushing Meadows Corona Park several months ago.

Now that they have migrated to Willets Point, the precinct has started to do patrols and issue summonses.

Last Friday, officers confiscated a car, he said.

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If they could do it in Bay Ridge, why not Flushing?

From WPIX:

NYPD officers arrested 19 people in a prostitution crackdown on various “day spas” and “massage parlors” in Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights, authorities announced Thursday.

“In this case, there were 19 massage parlors in a relatively small area,” said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. “Now we know that the people of Bay Ridge have back pain, but we don’t think it’s enough to sustain 19 massage parlors.”

The arrests come after a year-long investigation that began after neighbors complained of “suspicious and disruptive activities,” according to the D.A.’s office.

“I hope that these arrests will send a message not only to the communities of Dyker Heights and Bay Ridge, but throughout Brooklyn, that I share their concerns regarding these purported “day spas” and “massage therapists” and we will not tolerate illicit operations that exploit women and blight neighborhoods,” said D.A. Hynes.

The bust was the culmination of a joint investigation by the Kings County District Attorney Special Investigations Unit and the NYPD’s Brooklyn South Vice Unit. Using undercover detectives, surveillance and search warrants, the operation revealed “substantial evidence of prostitution” and a string of work-related and zoning law violations.

The arrests included both workers and owners at 12 different establishments.

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Flushing Meadows is 2nd most dangerous park in City

From Eyewitness News:

Crime statistics over the last four years from the NYPD and compiled by the Park Advocates revealed the five parks with the highest number of incidents:

Central Park had 649 serious crimes, including 13 rapes and 415 grand larcenies.

Flushing Meadows had 387 serious crimes including five rapes and 40 robberies.

Prospect Park had 192 serious crimes including two murders and 92 robberies.

Riverside Park had 194 serious crimes including five rapes and 95 robberies.

And, Crotona Park had 102 serious crimes including 14 assaults and three rapes.

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Council member suggests house party legislation

From CBS New York:

It’s a proposal that could make Brooklyn a bit more mellow, a push to prevent large and unruly gatherings by forcing people to get permission to party.

Recently, a massive house party, hosting more than 200 people, took place in the borough and some residents told CBS 2’s Derricke Dennis they’re sick of it.

Parties like that one two Sundays ago are the focus of a new proposal from City Councilman Jumaane Williams, cracking down on what he calls advertised “house clubs,” where there’s a cover charge, drinks are being sold, and huge crowds are in attendance.

“We think when there’s 200-300 people in a backyard and this happens on a routine basis, you’re really inviting trouble,” Williams said.

The proposal would mean anyone hosting a party with 40 or more people invited would have to register the event with the police.

“All we said is we have to inform the precinct and inform the community aboard. You wouldn’t have to ask for approval. You wouldn’t have to ask for permission,” Williams said.

So is this added protection, or an infringement of rights? The answer remains to be seen.

Councilman Williams also wants to create fines for people who advertise their party on social media and charge for admission and drinks, Dennis reported.

Parties the size of what the council member is targeting belong at a place of assembly, which is inspected by FDNY and assigned an occupancy limit. From FDNY:

As a matter of public safety, New York City requires a Place of Assembly (PA) Certificate of Operation for all premises where the Certificate of Occupancy indicates that 75 or more members of the public may gather indoors or 200 or more may gather outdoors for religious, recreational, educational, political or social purposes, to consume food or drink, await transportation, or any similar group activities. When such groups gather, it is necessary to ensure that the space is safe and issues, such as proper egress and emergency lighting, are appropriately addressed.

The certificate of occupancy for a private house generally does not allow 40 or more people to be on premises at once. I would think that parties of the volume that the council member is trying to regulate are already technically illegal and there are agencies responsible for monitoring the issue other than NYPD, like FDNY and/or DOB. In addition, those advertising their parties on social media and charging for admission and drinks have now turned their residence into a business. That's already illegal and subject to DOB fines. Good luck getting any enforcement.

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People poaching marine resources

From the NY Times:

It sounds like something out of a James Bond movie: Lookouts. Scuba gear. Secret caches, hidden under floating docks. Horseshoe crabs.

Horseshoe crabs?

The crabs are among the incredible riches of Jamaica Bay, New York City’s wildest expanse of water, where a running battle between conservation authorities and those who would flout their rules has been going on for years. Despite the bay’s distant fringe of skyline, it is teeming with schools of striped bass, blackfish and fluke. Crabs and clams are numerous in its reedy shallows.

For these species, and others, state and federal authorities set strict limits on how many of each an individual may catch per day — it is sometimes as little as two or three — and of what size.

And there are plenty of fishermen who try to get around those regulations and profit from an illicit catch.

“It’s a whole underground world,” said a fisherman standing outside Stella Maris Bait and Tackle in Sheepshead Bay one day recently. He declined to give his name for fear of retribution from his peers. “You go to any market, and there’s people selling fish, anytime, that’s illegal.”

“Ever see those mob movies?” he added, as whelk, also called scungilli, were unloaded nearby. “People come out of the woodwork that you’ve never seen, envelopes full of stuff, this, that, money.”

And on a recent night, a full-fledged police helicopter chase over the waters of the bay, using night-vision goggles. A New York Police Department helicopter patrol, out on a routine run from its base at Floyd Bennett Field on Memorial Day discovered four men near the shore, tossing live creatures into two flat-bottom skiffs. One boat escaped. The other, which was pursued by the helicopter, did not. Two men now have a date in federal court on charges of poaching horseshoe crabs.

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Rape at Flushing massage parlor

From the Daily News:

Cops are investigating a rape at a Queens massage parlor Saturday.

Sources said the victim was attacked inside the Union St. shop near Northern Blvd. in Flushing at about 5:30 p.m.

Paramedics rushed the woman to Queens General Hospital in stable condition, officials said. Her attacker remained at large Saturday night.

Police sources said they don't know exactly what transpired at the massage parlor, noting there's a "language barrier" between investigators and the Asian victim.

Cops were seen entering and leaving the second-floor business - its windows covered by a neon "Open" sign and pictures of men and women getting massages - for most of the night.

The attack occurred at a time when communities are complaining about the proliferation of massage parlors and spas that stay open late and where workers provide more than just rubdowns.

Yeah, by the way, there's a website where you can find out what's "on the menu" at each massage parlor. Nice, eh?

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No one can seem to shut illegal site down

From the Queens Courier:

Neighbors on one Glendale block say the nearby garage is a chronic nuisance.

“These people are lawless all day, every day,” said one woman who wished to remain anonymous.

The garage, nestled on a quiet block in Glendale, sees dozens of cars every day. Neighbors complain the owners’ cars stay parked on the sidewalks and down the street for days, inconveniencing residents.

However, owners Elsie Serrano and Oscar Ortega claimed they are running a completely legal operation.

“I have receipts for everything I have done here,” Serrano said.

The shop’s license to sell cars is up to date, and both Serrano and Ortega are licensed to run their business.

However, neighbors allege they do not sell vehicles, but illegally repair them.

Ortega said his store brings cars to a nearby Getty station for service and if the station is too busy, he will do an oil change or fix brakes himself. He added that the store also legally washes cars. However, neighbors said they have seen workers do larger-scale repairs.

“They’re fixing collision and mechanical problems,” said Danny, a resident who withheld his last name. “You can smell chemicals along our block. These are people that have no morals, no respect.”

The owners frequently have their large family visit the site, and several neighbors said they blast music and intimidate residents at all hours of the day.

The 104th Precinct has paid many visits to the site, handing out numerous tickets and summonses. Neighbors said police officers have told workers to shut down the operation, though the 104th did not return calls for comment.

The Fire Department has allegedly shut the site down four times, but the shop continues to reopen. The woman said she has not seen any police or fire presence at the site since April.

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For free bike, just yank

From Metro:

Two men were arrested on Tuesday after they stole a Citi Bike from its dock and complained about unfair bike share prices to a pair of plainclothes officers, police said.

Police said they believed the suspects had simply removed the bikes by pulling really hard.

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