Fueled by a rise in felony assaults, murders and grand larceny complaints, crime in city housing projects jumped 7% in 2013 compared with the previous year, NYPD statistics reveal.
The new numbers, obtained exclusively by the Daily News, confirmed the growing sense of fear felt by many of the more than 400,000 residents of the city’s public housing developments.
“When I walk through the buildings, I feel scared now — and I grew up here all my life,” said Keyonna Johnson, 29, a resident of the Coney Island Houses in Brooklyn who attends Kingsborough Community College. “You see people not wanting to walk by you, fearing for their life.”
The worrisome overall figure includes data on the so-called five major crimes: murder, rape, robbery, felony assault and grand larceny.
In 2013, grand larceny complaints in housing projects shot up 21%, with 1,125 crimes reported, compared with 932 in 2012. Felony assaults rose 9%, to 2,047 from 1,886, while murders increased by 10%, as 56 homicides were logged last year, up from 51. Rapes dropped off 16%, to 138 from 165.
Brooklyn projects had the most murders of any borough, climbing to 31, from 23 in 2012. In Manhattan projects, there were 10 slayings in 2013 versus six in 2012, and grand larceny complaints spiked there by 29%. In the Bronx, there were 14 murders in public housing, down from 18 in 2012, and shootings dipped to 56 from 87.
Despite the stubborn growth of overall housing crime, shootings in projects citywide were down by 27% — 196 compared with 267. The welcome dropoff suggested that the NYPD’s “Operation Crew Cut” — an effort to aggressively investigate street crews to curb shootings among people between the ages of 13 to 21 — had achieved promising results. NYPD sources said “Crew Cut” played a big role in the overall reduction in shootings.
The elements of good news provided little comfort for Tamara Maldonado, 29, who also lives in the Coney Island Houses. “I don’t feel safe,” Maldonado said Monday as she walked her Shih Tzu, Nyxie. “I try not to be around so much.”
At the same time, overall transit crime fell by 5%, thanks to a dramatic 22% drop in robberies, which went from 785 in 2012 to 611 last year, the stats show.
Brooklyn and Manhattan saw the sharpest drop in transit crime, decreasing in both boroughs by 8%. It jumped 6% in Queens. Citywide there was one murder and five rapes in 2013, compared with two and 10, respectively, in 2012.
Police sources blamed the overall growth in grand larceny complaints on a popularity-fueled surge in thefts of iPhones, iPads and other tablets and smartphones.
