Is This a Crime Wave?

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If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll probably have been confused by the dribs and drabs of reports of break-ins via terrace and rooftop. (I know I have.) Well, another one came in (see “Early April,” below), and if this is normal, we might want to move to Brooklyn. “Seen it before in Brooklyn, DC, etc.” commented jfrankp this morning. “Some hardcore contraband has newly hit the neighborhood, in bulk, and cashed-out street fiends, low on judgment, are looking for ways to score capital and keep on buying. All the hallmarks. No burglar into burgling alone would bother with Tribeca otherwise.”

I’ve change the list since last time, organizing it by break-in date.

As I’ve mentioned ad nauseum, I don’t have media credentials with the NYPD—way too many hoops, too little obvious payoff—so no one at the 1st Precinct will speak to me. If you have a contact there, or know where else I might reach out, drop me a line at tribecacitizen@gmail.com or call me at 917-209-6473; anonymity is guaranteed. (And if you’re aware of more break-ins, please let me know.)

I did reach out to Anthony Notaro, president of the 1st Precinct Community Council. He said that the police addressed the surge of break-ins at the last Community Council meeting, that it is out of the norm, and that they’re working on it. He suggested I call the precinct’s Community Affair’s office. I’ve never had anyone actually answer that line, and this was no exception, but I did leave a message.

The Community Council meets the last Thursday of the month at the police station at Varick and Ericsson; I’ll be out of town on May 30, but if anyone else is planning on going, I think we’d all love a report.

••• January: “We live in east Tribeca, just off Broadway. In January, our apartment with a terrace (and at least one other rooftop terrace apartment nearby) were broken into by someone who gained access through the roof of another building.”

••• Three times since January 1: “Top-floor office in southeast Tribeca has been broken into three times since the start of the year.”

••• This past winter: “I live at 47 Walker Street and was broken into this past winter. The robber came up the stairs at 49 Walker crossed to my roof and forced my terrace door open. He was seen as he made his way back down the stairs but wasn’t caught.”

••• April 5: “A man either psychotic or on drugs (as stated by the cops) used the scaffolding at #42 [Walker] to get onto their fire escape & climb onto the scaffolding & fire escape at #38. he RAILED, SCREAMED, SWORE & pounded on the fire escape & fire escape door windows, breaking windows on the 3rd & upper floors.”

••• Early April: “Someone jumped onto the terrace of one of the penthouses in my building from the building next door then tried kicking in the door. The guy must have thought that the apt was empty but the woman that lived there was home and called the po. When I spoke to one of the cops at the scene, he had said that the same thing happened earlier that night on Duane Street, and was the 3rd one in the neighborhood that weekend. I live Bway/Franklin.”

••• May 3: “I live on Leonard Street and someone broke into my apartment this past Friday by forcing my terrace window open.”

••• Week of May 6: “One of the rooftop terraces at 110 Duane St was robbed”

••• Week of May 6: “A dude was caught on the fire escape of our [Walker Street] building at 2 a.m. a couple of nights ago with a backpack.”

••• UPDATE: A reader on Warren just texted me: “My apartment was broken into on Friday [May 10].” Via terrace? Roof? “Terrace. We have video—he came from a building on Chambers and broke into my home from the building next to mine by prying open a window. My alarm went off but not to police—and they can’t figure out why. Frustrating.”

 

4 Comments

  1. Eric, at least two of the listings are the same event, not that that diminishes it. I responded to your first posting of breakins over a month ago. My apt and my neighbor’s at 356 bway between Franklin and Leonard were broken into on a Friday around 6:15 pm. It was late Jan/early Feb. the guy, who according to my neighbor matched the description of the guy who broke in on Walker Street, completely and methodically broke the frame to her roof level door and walked in. She, the nanny and two kids were home so he ran across to my roof. The police response was incredible, including helicopters and several teams of detectives. I couldn’t get them out of my house. They told us there was another breakin later that evening on Duane, again the pent house. I can’t substantiate that or tie it to the list above. As we are east of bway, we are the Chinatown Precinct so your readers can keep better tabs if we all communicate as I don’t think the precincts coordinate that much. We are installing motion activated lights and more security but lobby cameras don’t help iwhen the guy, who must be quite agile, comes up fire escapes and seems to have pulled himself up 6-7 feet from the roof beside up to my parapet wall. Been in my apt 29 years and this is first pent house level problem. Police say it is unusual as they usually target lower floors for easy exit.

  2. Thanks for the full rundown, Chris—if I had a terrace, I’d definitely get motion-activated lights. I’m not sure which two in the list are the same, though…? (I keep rereading it trying to figure out which two, but the streets/dates never match up.)

  3. I think Chris may mean the 2 Walker St incidents are the same. Apr 5th & May 6th??. Unless something did happen on Walker St on the 6th May, but I wasn’t aware and we live at 40 Walker St where the guy was arrested on the scaffolding next door. It’s all rather scary. We live in the penthouse too with terraces and have taken extra measures with security.

  4. @Lynsey: They do sound similar, although the person who emailed about May 6 contacted me on May 9 and said “a couple of nights ago.” (No recollection of making the leap to May 6, but maybe I did that.) Anyway, who knows….