4. Bedford-Stuyvesant
Locals refer to it as ‘Bed-Stuy’ and it’s huge! I’m not just talking about the fact that it takes up two separate precincts (79 & 81), but hello!—Jay-Z grew up on these streets! But focusing on the crime in Bed-Stuy, next one on the list of neighborhoods to avoid in Brooklyn before I trail off topic; to make it less confusing by spewing an extra set of numbers at ya, I’ll target my attention towards the western side of this neighborhood, since its crime rate is higher even with fewer residents! With 108 total crimes this year, you would think that the eastern side (79th precinct) would have the west side (81st precinct) beat since its total crime is only 84, BUT the east side has nearly 30,000 more people in it to make up that crime; not to mention, of those crimes, the west side of Bed-Stuy has more violent crimes. Along with 19 burglaries, 21 felony assaults, 27 grand larcenies with one grand larceny of a motor vehicle and 12 robberies, Bed-Stuy has had three rapes and one murder so far this year. However, for both the east and west side, these numbers are lower than that of the crimes accounted for in the same time frame of last year (east side being at a 1.1965 and west side with 1.3392). Changes in the system like the one made in ’96 after a helpless 7-year-old girl was murdered is just what this neighborhood needs to keep their crime rates lowering. The poor girl was beaten to death by her abusive step-father while authorities turned their noses up to the obvious signs of abuse. So sad that it took an innocent child being tortured to her grave over a container of yogurt to get them to open their eyes, but since then some major changes in the city’s child welfare system have been made to prevent this type of violent behavior from repeating itself. Let’s see what’s next on our list of neighborhoods to avoid in Brooklyn.
Copyright: squidmediaro / 123RF Stock Photo
