What qualifies as a "crime wave" these days? Increased grand larceny on the subway? A spike in shootings? According to the Post, cutting power lines, stealing electrical wire and a "suspicious boardwalk fire" add up to a "cyclone of crime" in Coney Island. Never mind the real atrocity: that Nathan's on the boardwalk doesn't offer raw, diced onion on their hot dogs. more ›

A 17-year-old boy was fatally shot near Avenue C and East 12th Street early Sunday morning, the Daily News reports. Keith Salgado was shot by unknown assailants around 1:50 a.m. and rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where he died hours later. No arrests have been made, and his cousin tells the News, "We were hanging out last night and he decided to split for five minutes. In five minutes, he got shot." Police sources tell Fox 5 the shooting may have been gang-related. more ›

Though the NYPD has been cracking down on auto theft, Commissioner Kelly seemed to want to focus on entire cars. However, things like tires and car radios have been going missing at an alarming rate in Astoria, and locals are concerned about, you guessed it, the Bad Old Days. Ran Craycraft of whyleaveastoria.com told the Daily News, "A few weeks ago, I saw a car with the tires taken off up on cement blocks on 27th Street. I have never seen anything like that. It was like something you'd see in New York in the '70s." more ›

The Bad Old Days have returned to McCarren Park. According to the Brooklyn Paper, there's been a "crime wave" in the area, with 15 incidents occurring over the past 3 months—including two recent violent incidents. The paper reports that last Saturday at 8:30 p.m. a woman was raped in the park's bathrooms after meeting a man on the corner of North 12th Street and Bedford Avenue, and on June 18th a gunman fired at random at 1 a.m. Neither have been caught; the North Brooklyn Parks Administrator says they're now hiring a park enforcement police officer. more ›

A five-year-old girl and two men were shot yesterday around 2:30 p.m. outside 275 Halsey Street in Bed-Stuy. All three were hospitalized in stable condition. As families barbecued outside on a seasonable Sunday afternoon, two men stepped out of a silver Nissan and at least one of them began emptying his .45 caliber handgun, sources tell the Post. Little Syniah Herndon was shot in the leg during the shootout, while Jamel Franklin, 20, and Darnell Billinghurst, 23, were both shot in the arm. Syniah's mother says: more ›

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. more ›

Though there's been a surge in assaults in some downtown neighborhoods like Greenwich Village, the NYPD says New York's fifteen year decline in crime continues unabated, with an overall drop of 12% so far this year. But some New Yorkers, like Harlem's Kone Mahamadou, tell a different story: "If you walk these streets, especially at night, you know crime is definitely not down. It's not safe. I don't know where they get these statistics." Some say the NYPD's stats are skewed because officers have been known to discourage crime victims from filling out police reports, but David Kennedy, director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at John Jay College, says the bad economy is just messing with everyone's heads: "All objective information says things are no worse, and maybe a little better, but residents think things are going in a ditch." Tell that to 20-year-old East New York resident Tianna Sanchez; the NYPD says robberies and grand larcenies are down by double digits in the area, but she tells the News, "You can't sit on a bench because you are scared there will be shootings. They were shooting on my baby's birthday. It was 90 degrees out, and we had to go in the house." more ›

An unidentified man was stabbed in the neck at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and West 4th Street just after 4:40 a.m this morning, ABC 7 reports. The stabee is now at St. Vincent's in stable condition. Two suspects were witnessed fleeing the scene; one wearing a black shirt and another in a... grey shirt. So give those two a wide berth if you spot them! Last Thursday a Buffalo man was hospitalized after an alleged late-night gay-bashing assault in the Village, and on Sunday another man was stabbed in the back and arm during a heated pre-dawn argument. Some local residents are complaining that their quaint neighborhood is becoming sketchy, and NYPD stats support those anecdotal reports, at least in the category of violent assaults, which are up about 40% over last year thus far. Robbery, burglary, and grand larcenies are all down, though, so try not to panic—but do check back often for updates on this alarming crime wave! more ›