Sex crimes and shootings rise in Queens

NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea presided at his first monthly crime up date as the city’s top cop. Overall crime is down across New York City, but police data shows sex crimes and shootings on the rise in Queens. Photo via the Mayor’s Office/Flickr.

By Jonathan Sperling

Crime is down overall in 2019, but reports of shootings and sex crimes have steadily increased in Queens, according to the latest NYPD data.

Citywide crime incidents recorded between Jan. 1, 2019 and Nov. 30, 2019 have decreased by 1.3 percent compared to the same time period in 2018, form 88, 203 incidents to 87, 014 incidents. That includes crime such as rape, which is down 1.1 percent citywide.

But in the vast majority of Queens police precincts, reports of rape, along with other sex crimes, have seen a drastic increase.

A total of 200 rapes have been recorded in the Queens North patrol area as of Dec. 1, up from 198 during the same period in 2018. In the Queens South patrol area, reports of rape have risen 16.9 percent, from 160 to 187. Reports of other sex crimes are up from 564 to 610 in Queens North, and from 328 to 352 in Queens South.

Though the majority of Queens precincts have seen a rise in rape and other sex crime reports, several stand out. Year-to-date rape reports in the 100th Precinct, which covers Broad Channel and part of the Rockaway Peninsula, are up 400 percent, from three to 15. In the 108th Precinct, which covers Long Island City, Sunnyside, and Woodside, year-to-date rape reports are up more than 66 percent, from 12 to 20.

Shooting incidents are also reportedly on the rise across the city, including in Queens. In Queens North, a total of 41 shooting incidents were reported, up more than 41 percent from the same time last year. In Queens South, where 14-year-old Aamir Griffin was fatally wounded by a stray bullet in October, there have been 77 reported shootings, up from 74 last year.