Crime Watch

BY JERRY DANZIG

Watch Your Backpack!Thieves seem to zero in on iPhones, even when the devices are stored in backpacks. At 11 a.m. on March 20, a 50-year-old man placed his gold 6s, valued at $800, inside his backpack, zipped up the pack and slung it on his back at the northeast corner of Water and Wall Streets. About five minutes later, he reached into his bag for the phone and found it gone. He used a friend’s cellphone to track his own and discovered that the thief had already begun erasing his information from the device.

Hack HackedOne thief didn’t give a taxi driver a break while the cabbie was on a bathroom break. At 12:45 p.m. on March 24, a 49-year-old man double-parked his taxi in front of 102 North End Ave. to use the bathroom. When he came out, his credit cards, driver’s license and iPhone had been taken from inside his cab. He told police that he was unsure if he had left the vehicle locked, but there was no damage to the vehicle or the car’s lock. No value was stated for the stolen property, and the cabbie cancelled the cards.

Trouble TrioA woman from Queens had a frightening encounter with three muggers late one Saturday night. At 1:16 a.m. on Saturday, March 26, a 29-year-old woman walking westbound on Chambers Street was stopped by three men in their 20s, who then surrounded her in front of 96 Chambers. One of the hoods said, “Let me see what you got.” Fearing for her safety, the woman took out her wallet, and a thief in the black hoodie took $110 in cash from the wallet. All three creeps then fled northbound on Church Street. Police searched the area but could not locate the bad guys.

Citi Bike StrikesCiti Bikes seemed to be a popular item among thieves recently. At 2:45 p.m. on March 25, a 22-year-old man from Japan was in the process of returning a Citi Bike to the docking station on the northwest corner of Chambers and West Streets when two men pulled his bike out of the dock before he locked it in. At the time of the police report, the bike had still not been recovered. The value of the stolen Citi Bike was $1,200. Then at 10:11 p.m. the same day, a 27-year-old woman left two Citi Bikes outside the Cowgirl Sea-Horse restaurant at 259 Front St. to use the bathroom. When she returned 15 minutes later, both bikes were gone. She told police that the bicycles had not been locked up or secured in any way. The two stolen Citi Bikes had a total value of $2,400.