Car Broken Into and Cops Don’t Show for Over 2 Hours, Says Neighbor

A neighbor wrote in to tell us about two recent neighborhood crimes:

1) My sister’s iPhone was snatched from her hand as she was talking on it in front of 415 Argyle (b/w Dorchester and Cortelyou).

2) Our car window was smashed in for the second time. This most recent time was on Westminster between Dorchester and Ditmas. We discovered the break-in the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I called to report the second break-in but because it took them more than 2 hours to show up, we had already left to take the car to get the window replaced.

I’ve lived in the neighborhood for 3 1/2 years without incident. These last few months have been pretty disturbing.

The neighbor explained that her sister didn’t report the iPhone theft to the police. If you’re the victim of a crime in the neighborhood, we urge you to report the crime to 911 or to the 70th Precinct directly at 718-851-5511. It may be a further hassle in an already bad time but it can help keep the neighborhood safer.

Several neighbors have mentioned having difficulties making reports to the police. Response time has slowed around the city and, in our neighborhood, response times of a half hour have been reported by neighbors. For crimes such as car break-ins, response times of up to three hours have been reported in this blog’s comment section. Several neighbors say that even after waiting several hours on crimes such as break-ins and assaults, no police responded.

If you have any problems reporting crimes, let us know by email at ditmasparkcorner@gmail.com. It’s a problem that can be helped by sunlight and communication.

What’s your experience been with police response in emergencies and non-emergency situations?