Staten Island crime stats climb precipitously this year, including stolen cars and felony assaults

BP Fossella Calls Increases Alarming, Encourages Citizens to be Alert

Staten Island Borough President Vito J. Fossella cited data released through CompStat, the NYPD’s crime statistic reporting system, which revealed that in more than half of the seven major crime categories, Staten Island has seen substantial increases.

Overall, crime in the borough increased by more than 40%. When comparing our borough’s year-to-date numbers, robbery is up by more than 56% when compared to 2021, while grand larceny has increased by almost 46% and felony assault by 33%. CompStat is a weekly-released collection of crime statistics reported on a city-wide, borough-wide, and precinct-by-precinct basis. These are then broken down into weekly, monthly and year-to-date percentages.

“This is alarming,” said Borough President Fossella, after the latest statistics were released on April 17th. “Look at these numbers – they reflect years of state bail reform which makes it easier for criminals to get out of jail, while making it more difficult for our police to do their jobs. We are also seeing an increasing boldness by criminals who feel there are no consequences for their lawless actions.”
 
“We will continue to work closely with Staten Island DA Michael McMahon, the NYPD, and our colleagues in government to address this spike in crime, but we also want to alert the community that the soft-on-crime approach of recent past years has failed. That’s why we continue to urge support for the NYPD and for criminal justice measures that actually protect the public.”
 
“And here’s something incredible,” Fossella added. “Grand Larceny Auto – stolen cars – is up 100% to date when compared to the same time period in 2021. This is not only the result of more criminals remaining on the streets, but people taking unnecessary risks with their cars.”
 
Local law enforcement encourages certain preventive measures including not leaving your car running while you go into a store, always locking your vehicle, and to avoid leaving your keys in the car, among others.
 
“While my office and the NYPD work tirelessly to make our communities safer by holding offenders accountable, we remain troubled by the rise we have seen in certain crime categories, especially Grand Larceny, Grand Larceny Auto, Robbery, and Felony Assault,” said DA McMahon.
 
“We know many grand larceny cases are the result of scammers preying on innocent and unsuspecting victims, and we encourage all Staten Islanders to help us prevent these crimes by remaining vigilant and always reporting potential scams to my office and the police. At the same time, with domestic violence accounting for nearly 56 percent of felony assaults on Staten Island, we also encourage victims of these serious crimes to contact my office, the NYPD, and the Family Justice Center to access resources and to help us hold their abusers accountable. To address the immense rise in car thefts, my office also continues to advocate for new license plate reader technology to be brought to Staten Island to catch the crews coming to our borough from other areas and put these criminals behind bars. We also strongly encourage Staten Islanders to take simple yet effective preventative measures by always remembering to lock their cars and never leaving their vehicle unattended with the keys still in the ignition.   
 
Any amount of crime is too much, but my office and the NYPD have also been successful in driving down gun violence on Staten Island, even as it still plagues many other parts of our City. Shootings in our borough are down, and gun arrests and prosecutions are up for the year. Criminals know the incredibly serious consequences they face for carrying or using a firearm on Staten Island, and we will not relent in our mission to prevent violence and other serious crimes from occurring on our streets. I will continue to partner with Borough President Fossella and all our partners to maintain Staten Island as a safe place for all.” 
 
 
April 17, 2022 CompStat Report Highlights
 
CompStat data is measured by seven index crimes: murder, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, grand larceny, and grand larceny auto. All increases are year-to-date 2021 vs. 2022.
 
120th Precinct
·  Overall crime is up 42%
·  Grand Larcenies are up 85%
·  Felony assaults are up 40%
·  Robberies are up 40%

121st Precinct
·  Overall crime is up 61%
·  Grand Larceny Auto is up 118%
·  Grand Larceny is up 75%
·  Felony assaults are up 83%

122nd Precinct (smallest overall increase in crime on Staten Island)
·  Overall crime is up 4.5%
·  Grand Larceny Auto is up 119%
·  Robberies are up 137%
·  Burglaries are up 23%

123rd Precinct
·  Overall crime is up 70%
·  Grand Larceny Auto is up 312%
·  Felony assault is up 33%
·  Grand Larceny is 67%