WWII Vet Is Latest Village Crime Victim; NYPD Adds Patrols

NYPD mobile surveillance tower, courtesy Barry Yanowitz

The NYPD has recently beefed up its presence in Greenwich Village, but it wasn't enough to stop an elderly WWII veteran from becoming the latest victim of the area's mini crime wave. The incident occurred around 1:30 p.m. on Friday, when an unknown assailant followed 91-year-old Eugene Schaffer from a bank to his West 12th Street apartment. Schaffer, who needs a pacemaker and a cane, had just withdrawn $400. The mugger slipped into the building behind him as he entered, walked past the front desk security, and joined Schaffer in the elevator, where he accosted the senior citizen once the doors closed.

Schaffer tells the Post, "I was twisting from side to side and trying to shake him off. He pushed me up against a wall. I received some scrapes and bruises on my forehead." The thief, described as "a black man in his 40s, wearing a black shirt, white and black jeans and white sneakers," took the money, but let Schaffer keep his wallet after he begged for it.

According to NYPD stats, there have been 43 assaults in the area so far this year, compared with 34 last year over the same six months. And there were 100 narcotics arrests last month, compared with 53 last year during the same period. In response to residents' fears about the crime spike, the NYPD has reassigned nearly 20 additional patrolmen and sergeants to patrol the area every Friday and Saturday from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

The department is also sending six horse-mounted officers, as well as a mobile command center and light towers. The Post reports "many residents blamed the rise in crime on New Jersey youths who cause trouble as they head to the PATH train. Others blamed Crips and Bloods gang members." José Gonzalez, an off-duty security guard who patrols with the Guardian Angels, tells the tabloid, "This is a whole different atmosphere out here. If it wasn't for the cops, it would be crazy."

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By John Del Signore in News on June 1, 2009 11:06 AM

Comments [rss]

everyAframe

I see it every night in west village -- hey, if we all got together, got a bunch of cement, any way of sealing off that goddamn PATH station on Christopher. Downside is it would be impossible to buy handjobs from black transvestites, but....

r1b2

What a douche, trying to beat on an old man. Too much of a coward to attack someone his own age?

ed_Extinct

...NYPD has reassigned nearly 20 additional patrolmen and sergeants to patrol the area every Friday and Saturday from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Residents have been complaining for over 5 years about the issue of not enough officers in the area on foot patrol at night, when most of the crime is commited. The crime hasn't really spiked, it's just more violent. The issue is West 4th Street and Christopher Street (between 6th Avenue and the West Side Hwy.)

Coincidentally, the Path Station is right there on Christopher and another on 9th Street and 6th Avenue and the amount of kids and crime in the area spikes after dark usually anytime during the week typically, gay and lesbian kids from Newark, Trenton, and Elizabeth—Do the math.

openheads

Yep........ All of NYC's problems can be directly attributed to lesbians from Newark.

Case closed.

Spirit of 76

There should be a special place reserved in Hell (or maybe just in Supermax) for creeps who prey on the elderly.

NannyState

That should be an enhancement of 20 years on any sentence: you target the elderly, you lose your youth.

Wza

Lot of action going down in the East Village too.

angry_pickle

all the more reason to legalize them

And when someone becomes addicted to cocaine and therefore can't hold a job and so starts stealing, beating, killing to pay for his cocaine from Duane Reade, I want you to tell everyone how legalized drugs improved society. It only makes recreational drugs easier to buy and cheaper but not free. Add to that everyone needs to worry not just about alcohol-fueled crimes, but also increasingly doped up ones.

Bottomless Chips

And when someone becomes addicted to cocaine and therefore can't hold a job and so starts stealing, beating, killing to pay for his cocaine from Duane Reade, I want you to tell everyone how legalized drugs improved society. It only makes recreational drugs easier to buy and cheaper but not free. Add to that everyone needs to worry not just about alcohol-fueled crimes, but also increasingly doped up ones.

Why do you assume more people will become addicted if drugs are legalized?

Even with our War on Drugs and staunch efforts to prohibit drugs, drugs are readily available in this country.

jpeditor

"Why do you assume more people will become addicted if drugs are legalized?"

Because that is what happened in the netherlands and sweden.

Look it up.

grifforama

Where are you getting your information from ?

In the Netherlands 9.7% of young adults (aged 15–24) consume soft drugs once a month, comparable to the level in Italy (10.9%) and Germany (9.9%) and less than in the UK (15.8%) and Spain (16.4%),[18] but much higher than in, for example, Sweden (3%), Finland or Greece.[4] Dutch rates of drug use are lower than U.S. rates in every category.[19] The monthly prevalence of drugs other than cannabis among young people (15-24) was 4% in 2004, that was above the average (3%) of 15 compared countries in EU. However, seemingly few transcend to becoming problem drug users (0.3%), well below the average (0.52%) of the same compared countries.[4]

The reported number of deaths linked to the use of drugs in the Netherlands, as a proportion of the entire population, is lower than the EU average.[20] The Dutch government is able to support approximately 90% of help-seeking addicts with detoxification programs. Treatment demand is rising.[21]

Mr Mel

My plan is to give the drugs away.

Brooklynbobby

Greenwich Village needs to be renamed . . . Greenwich Jungle.

Snoopy

What exactly is the function of that tower? Does it walk through the neighborhoods and shoots laser beams at the bad guys?

nicemarmot

The mugger slipped into the building behind him as he entered, walked past the front desk security

Now that's some high quality building security!

Mr Mel

This situation will get worse and will only improve when the economy gets better. If it was, indeed, about drugs, all the more reason to legalize them.