1st Precinct Figures Show Spike in Downtown Crime

Capt. Mark Iocco, the 1st Precinct commanding officer, announces crime statistics for October at the monthly meeting of the precinct's Community Council. Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib

Calling the past month “a very bad period for us,” the First Precinct’s commanding officer, Capt. Mark Iocco, said crime in the Lower Manhattan precinct spiked nearly 50 percent in October over the same period a year ago.

In his monthly report to the First Precinct Community Council on Oct. 29, Iocco said crime was up “significantly,” with 120 reported cases to date in October versus 82 during the same month a year ago, a 46.3 percent increase.

The statistics for the precinct, which includes Soho and the subway system in Lower Manhattan, are not broken down by patrol “sector” or neighborhood.

Following are the numbers Iocco reported for this October against the same period last year:

Robberies

Oct. 2015: 5

Sept. 2014: 1

Felony Assaults

Oct. 2015: 8

Sept. 2014: 3

Burglaries

Oct. 2015: 9

Sep. 2014: 7

Grand Larcenies

Oct. 2015: 96

Sept. 2014: 67

Four of the robberies this month, police say, were committed by one man demanding money, at knife-point, from women toward the back of the 1 train, most from Franklin Street down.

“He was hitting the first day of the week, usually a Monday or Tuesday, so we’ve been extra cautious on those days,” said Capt. Patrick Donohue of the NYPD’s Transit District 2.  Though the robber, described as a black male in his 40s, with a thin build, has not struck since Oct. 12, “we continue to maintain the presence and hopefully maybe somebody can lock him up for something else and he’ll fess up to it,” Donohue said.

Plain clothes officers are riding the 1 trains and cops are stationed at South Ferry and Franklin Street, day and night, according to Donohue.

Of the nine burglaries, Iocco said, three were apparent inside jobs at Soho’s Hotel Hugo. One burglar—a man probably pretending to be a messenger—is believed to have struck two office buildings, 39 Broadway “twice or maybe three times,” and 299 Broadway, Iocco said.

Thefts of Citi Bikes accounted for 60 of the 96 grand larcenies, which contributed to about 50 percent of the increase in that crime, according to Iocco.  

“Last year was a historic low,” Iocco noted. “Our two-year average still looks good.”