Is the Upper West Side the Safest Neighborhood in New York?

By [Megan Finnegan Bungeroth] While crime throughout the city remained relatively flat in 2011-the year-to-date statistics show a slight uptick, 0.36 percent, as of Dec. 25-the Upper West Side's 20th Precinct enjoyed the lowest crime rates in all five boroughs. "We wound up the lowest, leading the city in crime reduction, with a total of 12.1 percent crime reduction for the year," said Deputy Inspector Brian McGinn, who took over as commanding officer at the precinct last October after then-Captain Christopher McCormack was promoted and transferred to the 40th Precinct in the Bronx. The Upper West Side has enjoyed relatively low crime rates over the past decade, but this year marks a new low, so to speak, for the 2-0. The two-year rate is down 18.8 percent, McGinn said. He's proud of the numbers, but cautions Upper West Siders to remain vigilant about the crimes that do still plague even the safest neighborhood in New York City. "We did see a little bit of a spike in burglaries, so we want to remind people to keep their doors and windows locked," McGinn said. "If you're walking the street, hold onto your iPhones. [A thief] is going to look for someone with their head buried in their phone and just come up and snatch it." Ian Alterman, the president of the 20th Precinct's community council, reiterated that message, calling theft of unattended property the biggest public safety issue of 2011. "[We've seen] people leaving computers and personal items around at places like Starbucks when they go get their coffee or go to the bathroom; women who leave purses in shopping carts in stores as they walk around; purses and bags are stolen at movie theaters because they are left on adjacent seats," Alterman said in an email. "People don't realize that their belongings-including computers-can be grabbed in 30 seconds or less.And counting on others to 'watch' things for you is not always going to work." There was an unusually high number of robberies (when someone steals something by threat of force, like a mugging) in December. The 28-day change over last year as of Dec. 18 was at a 1300 percent increase, as robberies jumped from 1 during that same time in 2010 to 14 in 2011. McGinn said that they still finished the year down in robberies overall. "We had three burglaries in one building-we think it's probably an inside job," McGinn said. "We haven't had any shooting or anything like that, we haven't had any homicides. We had a couple of bad robberies." Some of the biggest issues remain quality of life, like bike lane enforcement and working with street vendors, McGinn said. Alterman echoed this, noting that he has seen an increase in food trucks and other vendors on the Upper West Side after many were forced out of Midtown locations. He anticipates them being a big community concern in the coming year. McGinn said that the 20th Precinct has not been hit by severe budget or staff cuts for this year, for which he's grateful, and that they have implemented some new programs, including a youth crime reduction effort. They focus on truancy enforcement to keep kids in school and out of trouble, as well as follow up with kids who have committed crimes like robberies in the past, visiting them at home and keeping in touch with their parents. Even in the comfort of New York's safest community, Richard Aborn, president of the Citizens Crime Commission, predicted that the next big public safety issue is going to be cyber crime, like identity theft and credit card fraud. He suggests that people vigilantly track their online accounts and shred every bit of personal information they throw out to avoid being victimized. "We need a citizenry that really knows how to protect themselves. Unlike with street crime, we can't rely on the cops to do all of this," he said. So far, though, the officers of the Upper West Side are doing just fine, and McGinn expects similarly low results for 2012. "We're very lucky with our staffing-we have enough police officers. The bad guys that are out there, our guys are doing a good job catching them," McGinn said. "We're going to try our hardest to keep the 20th Precinct going in the same direction."