NYC TNB

[The Bobster]

1 dead, 3 others hurt after bullets fly at NYC baby shower: NYPD

Four men were shot — one fatally — at a baby shower around 1:30 a.m. at 108-11 Atlantic Ave. in Richmond Hill, Queens Saturday, authorities said.

nypost.com

1 dead, 3 others hurt after bullets fly at NYC baby shower: NYPD​

By
Social Links for Dean Balsamini



Published May 4, 2024, 1:31 p.m. ET








It was a bloody night in the Big Apple, where one person was killed and six others hurt in three shootings over a span of 45 minutes, police said.


Four men were shot — one fatally — at a baby shower around 1:30 a.m. at 108-11 Atlantic Ave. in Richmond Hill, Queens Saturday, authorities said.


Police said a 24-year-old man was mortally wounded in the chest, while another man, 45, was shot once in the left leg and a third victim, 26, was struck in the right arm.

One man was shot in the chest and killed during a baby shower which stretched late into the night. Instagram/Volume Seventeen
The 24-year-old was pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center while the other two victims were in stable condition at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Queens.




A fourth victim, a 43-year-old man, arrived at Jamaica Hospital via private means in stable condition with two gunshot wounds to his right arm and one to his left leg, authorities said.


There have been no arrests and the investigation is continuing, the NYPD said.

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Less than 15 minutes later, a 25-year-old man was shot in the head outside 199-23 Linden Blvd., near 200th Street, in Jamaica at around 1:40 a.m., police said.


The victim is in critical condition at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center.


There have been no arrests.

Two men survived being shot at this Brooklyn building early Saturday. Google Maps
The early Saturday bloodshed began shortly after 1 a.m. in Brooklyn, when a 47-year-old man was shot in the stomach and a 34-year-old man was hit in the right elbow at 15 Albany Ave. in Bedford-Stuyvesant, police said.


Authorities are looking for two males who sped off on bikes towards Fulton Street.




There have been no arrests.


“It’s unknown what what led to this or what the the motive was or if these two men were the intended targets,” an NYPD spokesman said.

 

[The Bobster]

17-year-old girl fatally stabbed in neck outside NYC subway station

The teenage girl became the seventh victim in a spat of violence that has rocked teenagers across the Big Apple over the past two days.

nypost.com

17-year-old girl fatally stabbed in neck outside NYC subway station​

By
Social Links for Katherine Donlevy



Published May 9, 2024

Updated May 9, 2024, 7:27 a.m. ET








A 17-year-old girl was killed in a stabbing outside a Queens subway station Wednesday night — the latest teenager to fall victim to Big Apple crime.


The teen was knifed in the neck on Queens Boulevard just steps from the 46th Street station in Sunnyside shortly before 9:30 p.m., the NYPD said.


The girl, who was not identified, was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.


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An NYPD officer on the scene of a stabbing at a Queens Boulevard subway station on May 8, 2024. James Keivom
Police confirmed that a person of interest was taken into custody, but no charges have been filed.




A knife was left at the scene, lying on the ground under the elevated tracks.

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Photos also show a backpack and shoulder bag — both torn open — on the floor alongside blood-soaked paper towels.


The girl became at least the seventh young victim in a spate of violence against teenagers across the city over the past two days.


Just hours earlier, a pair of 15-year-old boys were stabbed outside a Bronx McDonald’s. Both are expected to recover.


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The girl, who was not identified, was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. James Keivom
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A knife was left at the scene, on the ground under the elevated tracks. James Keivom
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Police confirmed that a person of interest was taken into custody, but no charges have been filed. James Keivom
On Tuesday, 16-year-old avid hoopster Mahki Brown was shot dead by a bike-riding gunman in Soho.


Brown, of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, was near the swanky Dominick Hotel on Spring Street when bullets flew, striking him in the head and leg, authorities said.


Hours after Brown’s slaying, a 17-year-old boy was shot in the back outside NYCHA’s Amsterdam Houses on the Upper West Side, police said.


The teen is in stable condition, but his assailant is still in the wind.




Also on Tuesday, three 15-year-old boys were stabbed in two separate attacks.


One of them was slashed in the back of the head during an argument on an MTA bus in the Bronx, while the other two were injured at the intersection of South 2nd Street and Keap Street in Brooklyn.

 

[The Bobster]

Two 15-year-old boys stabbed outside McDonald’s as more youth violence erupts in NYC

A pair of 15-year-old boys were stabbed outside a Bronx McDonald’s Wednesday afternoon — the latest teens caught up in a troubling spate of youth violence in the Big Apple.

nypost.com

Two 15-year-old boys stabbed outside McDonald’s as more youth violence erupts in NYC​

By
Social Links for Steven Vago



Published May 8, 2024, 9:33 p.m. ET








A pair of 15-year-old boys were stabbed outside a Bronx McDonald’s Wednesday afternoon — the latest teens caught up in a troubling spate of youth violence in the Big Apple.


One of the young victims was knifed in the chest, while the other was slashed on the hand in front of the fast food restaurant at 1600 Boston Road in Charlotte Gardens just before 4 p.m., according to police.


The youths were rushed by EMS to NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi with non-life threatening injuries, cops said.

A pair of 15-year-old boys were stabbed outside a Bronx McDonald’s Wednesday afternoon — the latest teens caught up in a troubling spate of youth violence in the Big Apple. Citizen
Police said it’s unclear what led to the bloodshed, and the attacker was in the wind Wednesday night.




The stabbing comes as teen violence has plagued the city in recent days.

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On Tuesday, 16-year-old avid hoopster Mahki Brown was shot dead by a bike-riding gunman in Soho.


Brown, of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, was near the swanky Dominick Hotel on Spring Street when bullets flew, striking him in the head and leg, authorities said.


His devastated mom, Sean, recalled him as “always trying to help somebody.”

One of the young victims was knifed in the chest, while the other was slashed on the hand in front of the fast food restaurant at 1600 Boston Road in Charlotte Gardens just before 4 p.m., according to police. Citizen
“He helps everybody,” she sobbed, adding he just tattooed her name on his arm.


It wasn’t clear if Brown was the intended target, but sources said the shooting may have unfolded following a spat between two groups of girls earlier in the day.







Hours after Brown’s slaying, a 17-year-old boy was shot in the back outside NYCHA’s Amsterdam Houses on the Upper West Side, police said.


The teen was taken to Weill Cornell Medical Center in stable condition, cops said.


The suspected gunman has yet to be caught.



And three other teenage boys, all 15 years old, were stabbed in two separate attacks on Tuesday.


One of them was slashed in the back of the head during an argument on an MTA bus in the Bronx.


The other two teens were injured in a stabbing at the intersection of South 2nd Street and Keap Street in Brooklyn.

 

[The Bobster]

Bloody week for NYC teens sees two killed, six wounded in frightening uptick of violence ahead of summer

The frightening spree of violence unfolded over the course of two days, leaving a 16-year-old basketball lover shot dead on a SoHo street and a 17-year-old girl fatally knifed in the neck outside a…

nypost.com

Bloody week for NYC teens sees two killed, six wounded in frightening uptick of violence ahead of summer​

By
Social Links for Larry Celona ,
Social Links for Joe Marino ,
Social Links for Amanda Woods and
Social Links for Olivia Land



Published May 10, 2024

Updated May 10, 2024, 6:58 p.m. ET








It was a bloody week for New York City teenagers — with at least two killed and six others wounded in a rash of shootings and stabbings across the five boroughs.


The frightening spree of violence targeting the city’s youth unfolded over the course of two days, leaving a 16-year-old basketball lover shot dead on a SoHo street and a 17-year-old girl fatally knifed in the neck outside a Queens subway station.


“We need to do everything in our power to address violence in this city, especially among our young people,” said Pastor Edward Hinds, who worked with Mahki Brown, the teenage boy gunned down at an outdoor plaza on Spring Street near Varick Street Tuesday afternoon.


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Mahki Brown, 16, — who loved basketball and was remembered as a “very vibrant young man” — was fatally shot on Tuesday afternoon.
Brown, who attended nearby Broome Street Academy Charter High School blocks away — miles from his East Flatbush, Brooklyn home — played on a basketball team run by the 67th Precinct Clergy Council, a non-violence group also known as “The GodSquad.”




“Mahki was a very energetic, very vibrant young man,” Hinds told The Post on Friday.


“It’s a tragedy that now we have to be preparing for his funeral service.”

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The teen — described as caring and respectful by friends and family — was playing “peacemaker” in a squabble between two of his fellow students when one of the girls involved called her brother for help, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Friday.


Two boys or men, who have not been publicly identified, then pulled up on a CitiBike, and one of them fired three times into a group of about 30 kids gathered at the plaza — hitting Brown twice, once in the head and once in the leg, Kenny said.


“He stepped in to break up the fight” and was killed, the chief noted.


Brown was one of two teens shot on Tuesday. The other, a 17-year-old boy blasted in the back on the grounds of an Upper West Side public housing development around 11:20 p.m., survived.


Also on Tuesday, three 15-year-old boys were slashed in two separate incidents in the Bronx and Brooklyn, and survived.


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Brown was killed in broad daylight in the swanky Soho neighborhood. Citizen App
That bloodshed was followed by a pair of 15-year-old boys injured when they were stabbed outside a Bronx McDonald’s on Wednesday — and then the tragic knifing of Sara Rivera, 17, in Sunnyside at around 9:35 p.m.


“There is always talk about too many guns on the street, and there are-but it seems like every teen has a knife,” a Brooklyn detective said of what appears to be a trend of knife crimes among teens.


“You think you are getting punched and all of a sudden you are bleeding because someone stabbed you in the chest or back.”


Police officials also blamed the state’s lax criminal justice laws for the violence, while noting a recent increase in gun arrests among the city’s youth.


“This is a direct result from the ‘Raise the Age’ laws,” one Manhattan supervisor said, referring to a statute signed by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo which upped the age for a teen to face adult charges to 18, from the previous 16- and 17-year-old threshold.


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Sara Rivera, 17, was fatally stabbed in the neck on Wednesday. @nyc.saraa
The law, which went into effect in 2019, makes it likely that 16- and 17-year-olds suspects get funneled through Family Court, where they face less serious consequences.


“There are no repercussions for the crimes. The increase in crime is the opposite effect of what the law was intended to do,” the supervisor said of the slap-on-the-wrist system, adding it was creating “super criminals.”


NYPD Chief of Crime Control Strategies Mike Lipetri, agreed, telling The Post on Friday, “we have to have consequences” for serious crimes.


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A 15-year-old was charged in Ramirez’s murder. James Keivom
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Ramirez was knifed in the neck outside a Queens subway station Wednesday night. James Keivom
Last year, Lipetri said, 11% of gun arrests were minors, “up 120 % from 2018 when it was 209 under [the] age of 18.”


He said NYPD data shows that about one-quarter of youths arrested with guns in 2021 went on to be a perpetrator or victim of a shooting within two years.


“Eleven percent of all shooting victims last year in New York City were under the age of 18. Up 77% from 2018,” he added.


Some 96 people under the age of 18 were arrested in shootings in 2023, Lipetri said, adding that number was “up 92% from 2018.”









The frightening statistics played out in real time in the 36 hours after Brown was killed. As of Friday, no suspects had been publicly identified in his murder.


No suspect was named either in the shooting of the 17-year-old boy at NYCHA’s Amsterdam Houses, which erupted during a dispute over a dice game, police said.


Cops have not announced arrests in the Tuesday slashings, including the 15-year-old boy stabbed in the back of the head during a scuffle with other teens on an MTA bus in the Bronx, according to police, who said the attackers fled the scene.


Two other teens, of the same age, were also injured at a South Williamsburg intersection later that day, and that case is ongoing, too, according to police.


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A 17-year-old male was shot at a housing complex near Lincoln Center on Tuesday night. Kevin C. Downs for NY Post
Police are also still searching for the attacker who knifed a 15-year-old boy in the chest and slashed the other in the hand outside the McDonalds in Charlotte Gardens just before 4 p.m. Wednesday. The two boys are students at Bronx Vision Academy.


A 15-year-old girl was charged in the murder of Rivera – who was just a few months from turning 18.


A friend of Rivera’s said the teen was drinking with pals in a park near the 46th Street subway station when she got into the fatal dispute with the 15-year-old acquaintance — both students at Queens Tech High School, who had only been friends for about three weeks, Kenny said.


“They begin to get into some kind of verbal interaction, where you suddenly just see the perpetrator just lunge at the victim, stabs her in the neck,” he said of the Wednesday tragedy.


“While the victim was lying in the street dying, she was asking for someone to please call her mother.”


The high schooler was rushed to a hospital, but could not be saved.


“This is what happens when you change the laws and there are no consequences,” another Brooklyn detective chimed in.


“Lawmakers think they are protecting teens-did they protect [Rivera]?”




Hinds, the Brooklyn pastor who knew tragic hoopster, Brown, agreed.


“There’s a need for comprehensive resources,” he said. “An all-hands-on-deck approach.”

 

[The Bobster]

Robberies surge 5.6 percent in NYC in last month with a 350 percent increase in Central Park: ‘Free for all’

Most major crimes in the city are down, including shootings and murders, but robberies have increased across the city so far this year, police data show.

nypost.com

Robberies surge 5.6 percent in NYC in last month with a 350 percent increase in Central Park: ‘Free for all’​

By
Social Links for Tina Moore



Published May 11, 2024, 12:56 p.m. ET










Robberies in New York City are surging, police data show.
While most major crimes are down, including shootings and murders, robberies shot up 5.6% so far in 2024 over the same period in 2023 — to 5,522 from 5,228 as of May 5.
Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, pointed out that robberies have a low arrest rate — with only about 25% of cases solved because victims typically don’t know their attackers.
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Robberies shot up 5.6% so far in 2024 over the same period in 2023 — to 5,522 from 5,228 as of May 5. Christopher Sadowski
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Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant, pointed out that robberies have a low arrest rate — with only about 25% of cases solved. policinginsight

“Being up in robberies shouldn’t be a big surprise to anyone who knows what’s actually going on,” he said. “Robbery is a crime where most people can’t identify their attacker and then district attorneys are releasing these people. It becomes a free for all.”
April saw a spate of robberies in Central Park, three in just 27 hours, contributing to a 350% increase there — from 4 to 18 as of May 5, the most recent data available show.

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Robberies surged by nearly 50% in the NYPD’s tourist-heavy Midtown North Precinct, to 67 from 45 so far year-to-date.
In one Midtown robbery, a newsstand owner was bashed in the head on Feb. 24 by a threesome who snatched lottery tickets and cash before taking off.
The masked men stormed inside Abdul Hossain’s newsstand at West 54th Street and 6th Avenue around 2:30 p.m. and unloaded punches on the 67-year-old vendor.
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The masked men stormed inside Abdul Hossain’s newsstand at West 54th Street and 6th Avenue and unloaded punches on the 67-year-old vendor. Robert Miller
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“I was eating my lunch when they came in and just started punching me,” Hossain told The Post. “They punched me in the head over and over.” Robert Miller
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April saw a spate of robberies in Central Park, three in just 27 hours, contributing to a 350% increase. James Messerschmidt
“I was eating my lunch when they came in and just started punching me,” Hossain told The Post. “They punched me in the head over and over.”
In Brooklyn, three robbers attacked a 67-year-old man in a subway station in the 66th Precinct around 1:30 a.m. May 3, police said.

What do you think? Post a comment.

The victim was the mezzanine level of the Ditmas Avenue station on the “F” line when two of the attackers punched him in the face and forcibly took his MetroCard and cell phone.


Robbery in the precinct is up from 28 to 39, or 39.3%, so far this year over last, the data show.

 

[The Bobster]

14-year-old stabbed in Bronx hours before tourist, 43, knifed in chest in Times Square: cops

A 14-year-old was stabbed multiple times in the Bronx Saturday afternoon, cops said — the latest victim in a bloody week for New York City teens.

nypost.com

14-year-old stabbed in Bronx hours before tourist, 43, knifed in chest in Times Square: cops​

By
Social Links for Larry Celona ,
Social Links for Matthew Sedacca and
Social Links for Katherine Donlevy



Published May 11, 2024

Updated May 11, 2024, 9:08 p.m. ET








A 14-year-old was stabbed multiple times in the Bronx Saturday afternoon, hours before a tourist was slashed near Times Square, cops and sources said.


Police responded to a slashing call just before 2:30 p.m. at the corner of Hunts Point Avenue and Bruckner Boulevard in the Bronx, where a 14-year-old boy was found conscious and alert with two stab wounds in his back, cops said.


The teen was brought to Harlem Hospital, where he was in stable condition, cops said, becoming the latest victim in what has amounted to a bloody week for New York City teens.

A 14-year-old was found stabbed in the Bronx Saturday afternoon, cops said. Elmar Gubisch

Saturday’s stabbing further adds to what has amounted to a bloody week for New York City teens. tillsonburg


No suspects have been arrested and the investigation is ongoing, police said.

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Just four hours later, a 46-year-old tourist was stabbed in the chest in an unprovoked attack at the intersection of West 43rd and Eighth Avenue, sources told The Post.


The woman was rushed to the Bellvue Hospital in stable condition, the NYPD said.


A knife was recovered from the busy Midtown cross street, and her suspected attacker was taken into custody, but no charges have been filed, according to sources.


Saturday’s attacks add to a terrifying rash of violence, particularly among New York City youths.


At least two teens were killed and six others wounded in a frightening spate of shootings and stabbings over the course of just two days earlier this month.


Among the dead are a 16-year-old basketball lover who was shot dead on a Soho street and a 17-year-old girl who was fatally knifed in the neck outside a Queens subway station.


On Friday, an 11-year-old girl was slashed in the back of her head by a madman who had just punched another woman in the face. The young girl — though traumatized — survived the attack.

 

[The Bobster]

Here’s who’s buying panic rooms and bullet-proof doors amid crime fears in NYC — and it’s not who you’d think

“[What] my clients have been expressing to me is we saw how quickly society can break down during COVID. So, what would happen if something really drastic happened? I think everybody’s …

nypost.com

Here’s who’s buying panic rooms and bullet-proof doors amid crime fears in NYC — and it’s not who you’d think​

By
Social Links for Alex Oliveira



Published May 12, 2024, 5:02 p.m. ET










New Yorkers are fortifying their homes with panic rooms and bullet-proof doors like never before over fears about crime, migrants and national turmoil — and it’s not just the city’s elite partaking in the trend.
“Not every [customer] is an ultra-rich stockbroker — a lot of them are just people, middle-class kind of people,” said Steve Humble, founder of the home-defense contractor Creative Home Engineering.
“I’d say the pandemic really kicked off an uptick. Business was really good throughout the pandemic time, and it really hasn’t slowed down,” said Humble, who specializes in top-of-the-line secret doors disguised as bookshelves, fireplaces, mirrors, blank walls and whatever else a client can think of to conceal a safety room behind them.
He is one of numerous home-defense contractors who told The Post that the past four years have been a boon for business, with New Yorkers from all walks of life shelling out thousands of dollars to outfit their homes with hidden rooms, bulletproof doors and a swath of other covert security systems to keep the baddies at bay should they come knocking.
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Here is a concealed door disguised as a bookcase and made by Creative Home Engineering. hiddenpassageway.com

The driving force is a decline in New Yorkers’ sense of safety — assaults in the Big Apple reached 28,000 for the first time on record last year — and the perceptible shift toward volatile instability that many people feel is ramping up across all of American society, Humble and others say.

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“Whether it’s real or perceived. People feel like crime is up,” Humble said, explaining he has installed “well over 100” doors in homes across New York, with middle-class homes in Queens and the Bronx standing out.
David Vranicar, whose company Fortified and Ballistic Security specializes in such things as bulletproof doors and windows, said New Yorkers from less affluent parts of Queens and Brooklyn have been driving his business in the city, too.
“Those are the people that actually need to stop bad guys from getting in the house,” Vranicar said.
“[What] my clients have been expressing to me is we saw how quickly society can break down during COVID,” he said. “So, what would happen if something really drastic happened? I think everybody’s a little scared.”
While Humble specializes in concealing without-a-trace hidden safe rooms, Vranicar’s defensive philosophy is focused on keeping the baddies moving on by fortifying points of entry such as front doors and windows.
“What we want to do is say, ‘If the riot breaks out, can I be secured?’ And the reality is, even if it’s bad, and they’re banging on your door, and they can’t get in, and it’s steel all the way around, they’re not coming in. They’re just not, and they’ll move on,” he explained.
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Fears over crime in the headlines and on the sidewalks have led some New Yorkers to fortify their homes. hiddenpassageway.com
He said he also focuses on fortifying bedrooms where homeowners are most likely to be at their most vulnerable — asleep — should trouble make its way inside.
While Vranicar and Humble offer high-end custom projects — which can quickly add up to tens of thousands of dollars and more — both also said they provide a line of products to fortify or conceal doors on more conservative budgets.
Humble’s most affordable hidden door costs about $1,000, and though Vranicar’s cheapest door starts around $6,000, he pointed out that installing one such door on an apartment above ground level is going to make the place as secure as it can be.
“In New York, if you could afford six-grand for a door, you’re pretty much gonna be really safe,” Vranicar said.
Though both have outfitted the homes of celebrities and statesmen alike, average New Yorkers have helped make the city one of their biggest markets across the country, they said.
“There’s a lot of people in New York that are ordering the pre-designed secret doors from us,” said Humble, noting that New York City is one of his top three markets.
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Hidden rooms are just one defense measure. Some customers install electrified door handles and weaponized drones, too. hiddenpassageway.com
For not-so-average New Yorkers, there’s Bill Rigdon of Panic Room Builders — who caters to clients with homes worth around $10 million at a minimum.
“The people below that can’t get their head around spending $50,000 for a door,” Rigdon told The Post.
Rigdon builds panic rooms averaging between $100,000 and $200,000 — but can quickly cost well above that. The rooms are equipped with a host of defensive measures and life support such as food, water, plumbing, medical equipment, power sources and communication systems.
Beyond ballistic doors that can stop AK-47 rounds and up, Rigdon’s panic rooms can have electrified handles, smoke-screen launchers, concealed nozzles for blasting dyed pepper spray at intruders and remotely controlled robots or drones armed with shotgun shells.
As with Humble and Vranicar, the names and addresses of Ridgon’s clients are all protected by strict non-disclosure agreements, but he said the city has become “a different ballgame” with “1% of 1% customers” in recent years.
“The migrant thing has got people brain-spun because they’re living in their crystal palace out in the Hamptons and they have to drive through the city. and they see this,” Rigdon said.
“In the city right now, it’s is the rampant crime, right? Political unrest, which you see on the streets. And when these migrants started going into town, you know, it’s broadcasts all over the news — my phone blew up.”
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A secret door built into a bathroom mirror by Creative Home Engineering is one criminal-battling device. hiddenpassageway.com
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Hidden safe rooms and other home fortifications have been on the rise in neighborhoods all across New York City. hiddenpassageway.com
Recent city headlines have been so alarming that Rigdon estimates about 90% of his Big Apple business right now comes from previous clients who fear the instability — and potentially more from the upcoming 2024 presidential election.
“It’s not ‘if,’ it’s ‘when’ it’s coming,’ ” Rigdon said. “I have people I work with in the agencies in Pittsburgh, and Philly — the FBI, you name it — and they’re worried. If they’re worried. Why shouldn’t we be worried?”
Vranicar and Humble said they also have been seeing a similar trend among clients, many of whom have expressed fears over what has been simmering across America since 2016 — and may be coming to a head in the fall.



“There’s a bigger gap between a two sets of people groups: the haves and the have-nots, and the red versus the blue,” Vranicar said. “And the division is getting bigger and bigger and more and more polarized. And it’s got both sides freaking out. It’s made everybody on edge.


“A reason I believe we have such an uptick in business is America is becoming more like the rest of the world,” he said. “Just because you live in America, you’re not necessarily safe anymore. It was the case for a very long time, but not so much anymore.”

 

[The Bobster]

NYPD ‘headcount’ faces record lows not seen in decades — 200 cops leaving each month : data

A total of 566 police officers have hung up their holsters through April, compared to 508 over the first four months of last year, NYPD pension data shows.

nypost.com

NYPD ‘headcount’ faces record lows not seen in decades — 200 cops leaving each month : data​

By
Social Links for Dean Balsamini



Published May 18, 2024, 9:15 a.m. ET

The problem of NYPD cops leaving the job is getting worse as retirements this year have surged 11%. AP


The number of NYPD cops on the job this year and last is the lowest it’s been in more than three decades – with about 200 cops leaving each month, according to data obtained by The Post.
The current NYPD headcount is 33,695, just 154 more than last year — and the lowest since 32,451 in 1990, stats from the department and city Independent Budget Office show.
The problem is getting worse as retirements this year have surged 11%.
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“This is shaping up to be a long, hot summer in New York City with lots of overtime for the NYPD,” said Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Getty Images
A total of 566 police officers have hung up their holsters through April, compared to 508 over the first four months of last year, NYPD pension data shows.

A total of 823 NYPD cops have left the department so far this year. Of those, 257 cops quit before they reached the 20 years required to receive their full pensions.
On Thursday alone, 27 cops resigned. “Most” are going to the higher-paying Nassau Police Department, police sources said.

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The NYPD’s largest police union warned something has got to give.
“New York City police officers’ workload has exploded over the past several months, and the staffing is still nowhere close to keeping up,” said Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry.
“From the daily protest details to additional patrols in the subway, our members are beyond exhausted already – and summertime crime spikes are just around the corner. Squeezing cops for even more overtime hours is not a solution. It will just send even more of them running for the exits.”
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The current NYPD headcount is 33,695, just 154 more than last year and otherwise the lowest since 32,451 in 1990 — the height of the crack epidemic. Christopher Sadowski
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A total of 566 police officers have retired in 2024 through April, compared to 508 over the first four months of last year, NYPD pension data shows. Syndi Pilar/SOPA Images/Shutterstock
The NYPD has responded to 2,400 protests since Oct 7, and handle an average of 12 protests a day. Cops are often held over past the end of their shift to deal with the demonstrations.
The union has proposed a flexible schedule — currently being tested in select precincts — that would have cops work longer hours on fewer days.
One police officer, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, told The Post he retired in January after 20 years because he had had enough of the long hours, anti-cop rhetoric and bail reform laws that prevented him from doing a job he once loved.
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Two of the canceled NYPD academy classes are back on, Mayor Eric Adams announced last month. Corbis via Getty Images
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On Thursday alone, 27 cops resigned and “most” are going into the Nassau Police Department Academy, police sources said. Paul Martinka
“When I first got on the job there was a certain level of respect for the police officer. In regards to no-bail, these guys know they can punch a cop and be let out the next day. There’s no consequences. So, a lot of cops are like, ‘What the hell are we doing?'” said John, a 42-year-old assigned to the Bronx.
Retiring was “like somebody lifted an elephant and took it off [my shoulders],” he said.
As a married father of three, losing his regular days off and being re-routed to other commands to deal with protests and subway crime meant longer hours and took a toll on his family, he added.
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Retiring was “like somebody lifted an elephant and took it off [my shoulders],” said a now-retired cop, John, who was assigned to The Bronx. Gregory P. Mango
“If you go to any of the outer counties, particularly in Westchester or Long Island, those guys are making a tremendous amount of money for maybe half the work that our guys do.”
Two of the canceled NYPD academy classes are back on, Mayor Eric Adams announced last month, which will boost the dwindling ranks by 1,200.
But the PBA contends the new hires will “barely keep the headcount flat.”
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The PBA has proposed a flexible schedule — currently being tested in select precincts — that would have cops work longer hours on fewer days. John Lamparski/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
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NYPD officers armed with rifles stand guard as revelers take part in the annual Easter Parade and Bonnet festival outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral. REUTERS
The Adams administration called off five classes to train new recruits as part of multiple rounds of budget cuts to offset the cost of the migrant crisis, which has the city on the hook for nearly $10 billion through next year.



Earlier this year, though, higher-than-expected revenue has led the administration to roll back a series of cuts, including one of this fiscal year’s police classes and more than $500 million in educational cuts next year.

 

[The Bobster]

NYC shoplifting soars with over 21K complaints lodged so far this year — causing CVS, Walgreens to close up shops

New York City is turning into a drugstore desert as retail theft surged 5.6% so far this year.

nypost.com

NYC shoplifting soars with over 21K complaints lodged so far this year — causing CVS, Walgreens to close up shops​

By
Social Links for Lauren Elkies Schram and
Social Links for Tina Moore



Published May 18, 2024, 11:42 a.m. ET










New York City is losing drugstores as retail theft continues to surge.
Gotham has logged 21,578 shoplifting complaints this year through May 12, up 5% from the 20,552 thefts during the same period last year.
Manhattan has seen 8,896 incidents of retail theft alone.
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Target, CVS and Walgreens are closing locations throughout the country, according to reports. AFP via Getty Images
Crime is so rampant, national chains like Target, CVS and Walgreens are closing locations and tempering expansion plans.

Target announced at the end of last year the closure of nine stores across four states, including one in Harlem, due to theft.

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“We cannot continue operating these stores because theft and organized retail crime are threatening the safety of our team and guests, and contributing to unsustainable business performance,” the company said.
While shopping patterns have changed, with people making more purchases online, theft is “a factor” in chains closing up shop, said one Manhattan retail broker.
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Before her local CVS closed for good at 2495 Broadway at West 93rd Street, Maria Kucer said she saw a guy “scooping stuff” from the shelves into his black duffel bag. Helayne Seidman
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Maria Kucer (pictured) was so upset seeing people steal from her local CVS store. Helayne Seidman
“The old Love drugstores and Price Wise were 2,500-square-foot stores that seemed to succeed years ago,” said Big Apple retail broker Robin Abrams. “Then they mostly closed as they could not compete with the 10,000- to 20,000-square-foot Duane Reade, Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid stores. Now we are ‘over- drugstored’ and . . . and these chains will operate less stores in smaller spaces.”
Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant and an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said part of the problem was that politicians shrugged off retail theft instead of targeting it.
“Our politicians have told us, ‘Shoplifting is not a problem,'” Giacalone said. “And then all of a sudden, we start seeing all these issues that are happening because many of these crimes have been downgraded by the politicians themselves . . . Eventually you gotta pay the piper.”

see also​

NYC’s once-bustling Flatiron District now a wasteland of empty storefronts as rampant shoplifting wreaks havoc on iconic nabe​

Retail theft, which the NYPD only recently added to its crime-tracking CompStat reports, has nearly doubled in the city in the last six years. The number of incidents in Gotham steadily climbed from 32,254 complaints in 2017 to 37,922 incidents in 2019, before falling during the height of COVID-19 in 2020. From 2021 to 2023 citywide complaints increased again from 43,892 to 59,137, the data indicate.
The climate has made it tough for big drugstores already in the midst of downsizing.
Walgreens is on track to reduce its national footprint by roughly 200 stores in fiscal 2024, CEO Timothy Wentworth said in a call with analysts about the company’s first-quarter earnings. CVS announced plans in 2021 to shrink its national retail footprint by 900 stores: 300 each in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
In the Big Apple, locations are shuttering, with drug store companies forgoing some leases upon their expiration and putting other spaces up for sublease.
In Manhattan, five former CVS outposts are on the market, according to broker Joanne Podell, who is handling the leasing of the spaces. Walgreens has 17 former stores on the market in Manhattan, per a list from real estate firms JLL and SRS.
And Rite Aid is shuttering 53 additional stores in nine states as part of the company’s bankruptcy proceedings. That is on top of an initial list of 154 store closures.
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“Inevitably I ended up paying more for items as a result of the thefts and since the cashiers, pharmacists and staff felt like family to me, the thieves made me mad,”Kucer said about the thieves Helayne Seidman
“When you have a local drugstore, a local business, close down, you’re also losing jobs, you are inconveniencing the residents, and it has a long term impact on the quality of life of the community,” Mayor Eric Adams said.
Three weeks before her local CVS closed for good at 2495 Broadway at West 93rd Street in February, Maria Kucer, 61, said she saw a guy “scooping stuff” from the shelves into his black duffel bag. Kucer was told the same man had hit the store two days earlier. And that wasn’t the first time Kucer witnessed stealing at the store.


“I felt they were stealing from me,” Kucer said of the thieves. “Inevitably I ended up paying more for items as a result of the thefts and since the cashiers, pharmacists and staff felt like family to me, the thieves made me mad.”