Burglaries and air bag thefts are becoming quite common in the 49th Precinct.
On Aug. 5, a Build the Block Meeting was held at the Morris Park Community Association, where Community Affairs Officer Tyrone Mederos discussed the uptick in burglaries, air bag thefts and a recent robbery trend.
Air Bags
He told the attendees that air bags are being stolen out of Hondas, not just in this area but borough wide. In fact, the whole process takes about 40 seconds, Mederos said.
“Hondas are very popular,” he explained. “They are targets for everything: rims, headlights airbags and emblems.”
According to Mederos, Hondas are not equipped with shock sensors, so if someone wants to jack rims, an alarm will not go off.
Burglaries
“Burglaries are bad in the Bronx right now, I’m not even going to sugarcoat it,” he commented.
Mederos explained that in most of the borough burglaries are residential, but in the 49th they are commercial.
The police believe it’s a certain number of individuals committing the crimes and the perps have stolen from phone stores and many other businesses.
Car Theft
Mederos reported there have been twice as many cars stolen as there were last year at this time. Many of them are often people who leave the keys inside when they run into a store and others have tools nabbed from work vans.
He noted that by the time the cops find the vehicles, they are often stripped clean.
Robbery
Mederos said there is a robbery trend in the Van Nest area. They believe there are a few 15 or 16-year-olds robbing people at knife-point.
“Unfortunately that is something we were seeing prior to COVID-19,” he said.
