Bronx district attorney visits the 50th

The meeting room of the 50th Precinct was jam-packed with visitors for its precinct community council meeting last week.

Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson was the star attraction on Oct. 9, when community leaders, police and public officials thronged the precinct’s meeting room.

Mr. Johnson, dressed in a suit and tie, applauded the community’s efforts to come together to discuss public safety concerns and ways to reduce crime in the 50th Precinct and the Bronx as a whole. 

“This is a depressing business that we’re in, but there’s so much good news in what’s happening,” he told the crowd before noting some recent crime statistics.  

There have been upticks in rapes, burglaries and grand larceny autos in the 50th, according to Deputy Inspector Paul Rasa, the commanding officer. However, robberies in the precinct are down by about 17 percent and felony assaults are down by 10.3 percent so far this year up until Oct. 5, according to recent crime statistics from the NYPD. The precinct has only had one homicide so far this year. That came on June 29 at 2766 University Ave. when 24-year-old Roderick Romney was killed. 

The borough as a whole also saw strides when murder rates fell to a historic low in 2012. As of Oct. 5, the Bronx has seen 66 murders — one more than the same span last year. 

During the meeting, Mr. Johnson told attendees he was pleased to see that crimes reported on Rikers Island were now separate from the crime reports of the 41st Precinct in Hunts Point, which helped to shrink the Bronx’s overall crime rate. Mr. Johnson acknowledges that there is, however, room for improvement.

“We have a lot of work to do,” he said. “There’s still far too much crime here, but we’ve come a long way.”