Deputy Inspector Travaglia
Dec. 1, 2016 By Christian Murray
There have been no post-election hate crimes reported in the 108 police precinct—which covers Long Island City, Sunnyside and Woodside—other than a threat made against Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer via e-mail while he was organizing an anti-Trump rally/march.
Deputy Inspector Jon Travalia, the commanding officer of the precinct, said Tuesday that “We have not seen any incidents other than the threat against the councilman.”
That threat came via E-mail on November 16 and the hate crimes task force was brought in to investigate. No arrests have been made at this time.
The threat came when other hate-related incidents were being reported to have taken place in Queens such as in Astoria and farther east.
The precinct continues to see a decline in the number of reported crimes, with crime for the year through November 20 down more than 5 percent compared to the same period a year ago.
The number of burglaries reported so far this year is down 30 percent, with 128 reported for the year through Nov. 20, compared to 185 for the same 10 ½ month period in 2015.
“Things are going in the absolute right direction,” Travaglia said at the 108 Community Council Meeting Tuesday. He said that the number of reported crimes is down 18 percent for the 10 ½ month period compared to two years ago.
In the past 28 days through November 20, the number of reported crimes dropped 30 percent compared to the same period a year ago.
Burglaries, felony assaults and robberies all experienced significant declines.
Travaglia did discuss an armed robbery that took place at a Sunnyside Sprint store on Sunday, November 20.
He said that two perpetrators entered the cellular phone store at 46-31 Greenpoint Avenue at around 12:30 pm, displayed a gun, and took off with about 50 phones. Initial police reports said they took $3,500 cash and one phone.
Travaglia said the suspects are believed to have been involved in a number of robberies in Queens and Brooklyn, and the Queens robbery squad is working on the case.
He said that the two perpetrators most likely cased the store out before targeting it. He said that there were two young, small-framed women who were working at the store at the time and were most likely viewed as easy to overpower.
“These predators don’t want to face any sort of resistance.”
108 Precinct Crime Numbers by Queens Post on Scribd
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