North Brooklyn Safer Than South Brooklyn?

That's what the Daily News reports. The murder rate is increasing in Brooklyn as a whole, but in South Brooklyn (typically a safer area) it rose 31.4% this year, from 54 to 71. North Brooklyn had a 20% drop, on the other hand, with 23 fewer murders. South Brooklyn, of course, has incredibly diverse neighborhoods, from ~~Bay Ridge~~ Bensonhurst to Sunset Park to Crown Heights: each saw increases in murder. The winning neighborhood, if you want to call it that, is Brownsville, where 23 murders have occurred this year. North Brooklyn also saw price increases while South Brooklyn suffered price chops; this news will surely be added to brokers' brochures.
Murder Rates Spike in Some Nabes, Fall in the North [NY Daily News]
Photo by matt coats.

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and lets not forget that in olden days ( pre 90s ) " South" Brooklyn was considered by locals to be Atlantic Ave going south all the way to Red Hook. What is now Carroll Gardens was part of "South" Brooklyn.

Posted by: Prodigal_Son at October 20, 2008 9:52 AM

It seems to me that the article should have referred to "Brooklyn north" and "Brooklyn south" which are the terms used by the NYPD. Then we'd have to make the distinction between "South Brooklyn" [still, as far as I'm concerned, what PS described], "Brooklyn South" and southern Brooklyn [which, in normal usage, starts much further south than "Brooklyn South."

All this is all VERY confusing. My own neighborhood [PLG], for example, is in "Brooklyn South", but is in neither southern Brooklyn" nor "South Brooklyn"

Posted by: Bob Marvin at October 20, 2008 10:07 AM

Looking at a precinct map of Brooklyn, I don't understand their division of North and South. Crown Heights' 71st Precinct, which is CH south of Eastern Parkway going towards PLG and Flatbush, is smack in the middle of Brooklyn. That's hardly south Brooklyn. By that reasoning, most of Brooklyn would be south Bklyn, as Prodigal Son points out.

This is just another divisive statistic that will be used to redline neighborhoods, or create alarm in people who don't do any research or go to neighborhoods themselves, to visit, even, not to mention buy. The only light in this mess is that these neighborhoods are certainly ethnically and economically diverse. Goes to show that a higher police presence on the street is a valuable resource that needs to be expanded.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at October 20, 2008 10:11 AM

North and South are both going to be getting a lot worse before they get better as budget cuts hit the police force. Batten down the hatches!

Posted by: Whoops Johnny at October 20, 2008 10:13 AM

Bay Ridge....Yippy!!

Actually the article doesn't mention Bay Ridge. Lisa, I think you're just trying to rile me up. Between THL outing an ugly house in my nabe and now this :)

Also, I wouldn't consider Crown Height, Bed Sty or East New York south Brooklyn.

Posted by: bayridgegirl at October 20, 2008 10:24 AM

i think you will never forgive me for mixing up bensonhurst with bay ridge, bayridgegirl.

Posted by: lisa at October 20, 2008 10:33 AM

Is there a difference? Don't Bensonhurst and Bay Ridge together make up the town of Twin Peaks?

Posted by: eastriver at October 20, 2008 10:43 AM

Can someone explain which neighborhoods are North and which are South Brooklyn? I always thought South Brooklyn just referred to Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill and Red Hook.

Posted by: jwald at October 20, 2008 10:55 AM

I think the North and South here - are purely NYC Police Dept. divisions or groupings of their precincts for administration purposes. As in Brooklyn North and Brooklyn South. And do not relate to neighborhoods or neighborhood names past or present.

Posted by: Petebklyn at October 20, 2008 11:20 AM

I believe that Eastern Parkway is the dividing line for police purposes. Everything on the north side is Brooklyn North and everything on the south side is Brooklyn South. Do we have any cops (or criminals) on here that can verify that?

Posted by: LC Arnett at October 20, 2008 11:52 AM

Lisa, with a cross-out, all is forgiven.

Posted by: bayridgegirl at October 20, 2008 12:24 PM

This link answered my question:

http://brooklyn.com/modules.php?name=Police

Posted by: jwald at October 20, 2008 12:46 PM

I will confess to the impulse toward gleeful What-like rantings at seeing Park Slope and Cobble Hill in the murder zone, and Bed Stuy--where I keep urging cash-strained friends in the whiter parts of town to move and being told they can't because it's not a safe place to raise kids--outside of it.

Posted by: MiceElfAgain at October 20, 2008 3:37 PM

Brooklyn North and Brooklyn South are indeed just NYPD administrative divisions. The fact that BK North is a bit smaller than BK South, geographically, is probably because crime historically has been greater there, meaning they need a denser allocation of police resources. So the fact that Brooklyn South now has "more crime" probably just means that the density of crime is getting closer to -- but hasn't surpassed -- that of Brooklyn North. Make sense?

Posted by: dixiecupdrinking at October 20, 2008 9:54 PM

« DDDB Walkathon Raises $45,000 For Post-Rent Control Real Estate, Leave Brooklyn »

October 20, 2008

North Brooklyn Safer Than South Brooklyn?

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