By Robert Press
Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner James O’Neill came to the 40th Precinct on East 138th Street to announce a new precinct house for the 40th precinct, and go over the crime statistics for the first six months of 2018. The new 40th precinct will be housed on East 149th Street near the Hub, in a state of tha art building which will be completed in 2021 at a cost of sixty-eight million dollars.
As for the crime statistics Chief of Police Terrance Monahan began at the middle of the page. He said that overall crime for the first six months of 2018 was down almost 2 percent or 1.8 percent to be exact. Chief Monahan added that there have been 17,000 fewer arrests than in 2017.
The individual crime statistics were then announced for the first six months of 2018 compared to the first six months of 2017. Robberies are down 6.4 percents, burglaries down 5.4, and larceny down 2.2 percent. Shootings are down 5.6 percent, but then Chief Monahan said that the NYPD still faces challenges.
Then the bad news came as Chief Monahan said citywide murder was up 8.1 percent citywide with 147 murders in the first six-months of 2018. He added that in the Bronx the murder rate was up 64.5 percent with 51 murders compared to 21 in 2017. There were arrests in 33 of those 51 murder cases. Rape cases were also up 33.2 percent citywide, and only a few percentage points higher in the Bronx. Chief Monahan said the increase in rapes could be due to more being reported to the police. He added that Domestic rape cases were up 45 percent.
Commissioner O’Neill replied that there were 100 additional police officers in 2018 compared to 2017 in the Bronx. I said that over the past several years that the number had gone down however. I also asked about the triple homicide which occurred in Castle Hill saying that the police have a photo of the suspect, why has he not been captured? Chief Monahan replied that the suspect had fled the state, and that the Warrent Squad were after the suspect. He could not say if or when the suspect would be arrested.
