50th Precinct a hotbed for grand larceny crimes

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“It’s our crime.”

That’s how New York Police Department deputy inspector Terence O’Toole described grand larceny in the 50th Precinct. 

In the past month, there have been just under 40 reported grand larceny crimes, bringing the total for the year so far to 244. That’s a 27 percent increase from this point last year.

Police citywide have witnessed a major reduction in crime this year, recording its safest May since the 1990s. The 50th Precinct has followed this trend, reporting a steady decline in offenses like murder, rape, robbery and assault. 

But when it comes to grand larceny in the greater Riverdale area, the numbers only get larger.

“It’s all over,” O’Toole said. “We put it on the map. It’s at the Yonkers border, the 52nd Precinct border, and everything in between.”

Grand larceny is broadly defined as the loss of property valued over $1,000. Laptops, wallets, credit cards and automobiles are among those at the top of the list in terms of what’s being reported.

Because of this uptick, the police department has set out additional resources aimed at targeting these criminals. So far this year, the station has made 11 arrests related to car break-ins.

Car break-ins and outright thefts account for about a third of all grand larceny crimes reported to the precinct, O’Toole said. 

In fact, the 22-year lawman described a recent situation where two college students parked their car in the Key Foods lot on West 235th Street and Johnson Avenue. They left their Apple laptops in the backseat while they went grocery shopping, only to return to find their window smashed and the computers stolen. 

An arrest was made, but the MacBooks were never recovered.

“People leave a lot of stuff in their car, and these people are very brazen,” he said. “I was flabbergasted when we had an arrest last week of a 60-year-old and a 70-year-old breaking into cars.”

Along with car break-ins, identity theft also is on the rise. There have been 69 accounts of either stolen credit card information or ATM card skimming so far, compared to 45 at this point in 2016. Two banks in the area already have fallen victim to this crime.

ATM skimming originated in Europe several years ago when crooks determined that credit and debit card information could be stolen by placing small cameras and devices on machines, said O’Toole, who worked in NYPD’s grand larceny division for two years. 

Europe prevented the skimming by adding chips into the credit cards, pushing such crime to the United States. 

While most businesses now have card readers that are chip-enabled as well, gas stations don’t have to convert their machines for another year-and-a-half. 

The 50th Precinct added five more investigators in the past year to work on every report that comes into the station. When a pattern is found — such as two crimes at one location — they report it to the citywide grand larceny division.

O’Toole chalks up the increase to simply being part of the “cycle.”

“People are realizing that we are going to arrest them for violent crimes,” he said “This is a more anonymous crime.”

O’Toole stresses the need for people to protect their belongings and be aware.

“People have to take responsibility for their property,” he said. “No one’s chasing anyone down the street stealing chains or anything like that.”

50th Precinct, grand larceny, ATM skimming, identity theft, crime, Alexandra Hutzler