Mar 282013
 
Image source: kthread via Flickr.

Image source: kthread via Flickr.

Jewelry and electronics continue to disappear from area homes, as a series of break-ins plague the 68th Precinct, which covers both Dyker Heights and Bay Ridge.

Please remember folks, if you have a fire escape then you probably want to lock the window(s) closest to it when you go out!

According to Brooklyn Paper’s Will Bredderman, a burglar [or group of burglars] exploited one unlocked fire escape window – taking the opportunity to enter a 14th Avenue apartment on March 19.

The victim claims to have left her flat, which sits between 68th Street and 69th Street, at 8:30 a.m.

When she returned at 2:50 p.m. her door was still locked – but two Nintendo game consoles, a Playstation, an iPad, a MacBook, two gold necklaces, and an engraved silver wedding band were all gone.

Mar 122013
 
Image source: pixabay.com.

Image source: pixabay.com.

An off-duty New York City police officer was arrested this past weekend and charged with driving under the influence on the streets of Bay Ridge, according to CBS 2.

Officer Lester Sanchez, 29, was arrested early Saturday at 4:53 a.m. in the confines of the 68th Precinct, which includes Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights.

Sanchez was reportedly charged with driving while intoxicated, refusing to take a breathalyzer test, and reckless endangerment.

This arrest arrives on the heels of several high profile and heart-breaking fatal crashes – including one involving an on-duty NYPD officer, and as police officials respond to widespread public outcry by announcing a series of sweeping changes to crash investigations.

The New York State Senate has also recently approved legislation, sponsored by retired NYPD officer and State Senator Marty Golden, that would stiffen punishments for drivers who flee the scene of accidents which result in property damage, serious injury, or death.

Feb 282013
 
car crash dominic bartolini Flickr

Image source: dominic bartolini via Flickr.

It looks like our pedestrian rage was fully justified.

Brooklyn Paper’s Will Bredderman recently used a radar gun to check out how many drivers are actually following 4th Avenue’s posted speed limit of 30 miles per hour.

The answer: Not many.

While most of the 28 drivers observed on a weekday afternoon stuck fairly close to 30 mph, only eight – less than one third, drove within the legal limit, with one driver clocked in at a whopping 68 mph!

Bredderman then repeated the same experiment at different times with similar results. Click Here For More, Including Why Drivers Speed In Bay Ridge

Jan 252013
 

 68 Precinct Stats

Murder, which is widely believed to be the most difficult crime statistic to fake, has once again fallen to an all-time low in New York City, with homicides at a 52 year low for Brooklyn, writes Denise Romano for Home Reporter.

Bay Ridge’s 68th Precinct had one murder last year – the high profile slaying of local clothing store owner Mohammed Gebeli.

According to CompStat, the NYPD system for tracking and analyzing crime rates, that means last year the 6-8 saw a 75% reduction in homicides compared to 1993, and a whopping 90% less murders than 1990. Continue reading »

Oct 152012
 

Three disgraced Bay Ridge police officers will be spending Christmas behind bars for the next couple of years, after they were sentenced by a Brooklyn federal court judge for gun-running, as reported by Will Bredderman for Brooklyn Daily.

Richard Melnik, John Mahoney, and Eddie Goris will soon be joining former 68th Precinct cops Joseph Trischitta and Marco Venezia in prison. Treschitta and Venezia had been sentenced to 40 and 24 months respectively during the summer for taking part in the same gun-smuggling ring. Continue reading »

Oct 042012
 

Image source: Ed Yourdon via Flickr.

A bandit held up a delivery man at knife-point in the basement of a Bay Ridge apartment building after ordering dinner from an Italian restaurant in Dyker Heights on September 30, as reported by Will Bredderman for Brooklyn Daily.

The victim told police from the 68th precinct that the suspect placed an order with La Sorrentina [6522-24 11th Ave] at approximately 4:30 p.m., and requested that the food be brought to a subterranean location on 4th Avenue between 78th Street and 79th Street.

When the delivery guy showed up with the food he was greeted by the knife-wielding robber, who wore a ski mask and black gloves.

The discourteous desperado then proceeded to run off with the chow, as well as $90 in cash.

Sep 122012
 

Image source: Wikipedia Commons.

In an article entitled “Breaking Barriers and Breaking Ground,” the Home Reporter’s Denise Romano spoke with a Bay Ridge woman who is reportedly the first person to wear a hijab along with her NYPD auxiliary uniform. Continue reading »

Sep 042012
 

Beautiful but deadly (Image source: *水華* via Flickr).

Residents of 73rd Street between 5th Avenue and 6th Avenue say police from the 68th Precinct haven’t done enough to stem all the drug dealing, noise, and WWE-style violence on their formerly peaceful block, as reported by Will Bredderman for Brooklyn Paper. Continue reading »

Aug 242012
 

The above image, by Bath Beach photographer David Tan, shows a classic Volkswagen Beetle from the brand that, in the span of a decade, went from being associated with Hitler to becoming a symbol of 1960s counterculture. During the 1980s, a popular movie about time travel led an entire generation to associate the “VW” with terrorism. At least until they went to college.

The photo was taken at the 68th Precinct’s National Night Out in Shore Road Park on August 7, 2012.

To see more of David’s intense images, please visit his blog at dtan.blogspot.com.

If you have a photo you’d like us to publish as part of the Seen In Bay Ridge photo series, please send it to info@bayridgeodyssey.com. Be sure to let us know where and when the picture was taken, as well as how to credit the image (i.e. by your real name, pen name, anonymously, etc.).

Aug 172012
 

This week’s image, by Bath Beach photographer David Tan, shows a couple lounging as a Marine veteran stands nearby examining something in his hands at the 68th Precinct’s National Night Out in Shore Road Park. It was taken on August 7, 2012.

To see more of David’s first-rate photos, please visit his blog at dtan.blogspot.com.

If you have a photo you’d like us to publish as part of the Seen In Bay Ridge photo series, please send it to info@bayridgeodyssey.com. Be sure to let us know where and when the picture was taken, as well as how to credit the image (i.e. by your real name, pen name, anonymously, etc.).