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NYPD TARGETS 'KILLING GROUND'
(75 Precinct # 1 in Homicides, Robberies and Shootings - Deputy Chief Michael Marino to be C.O. of "Super Precinct")

By LARRY CELONA and BILL SANDERSON - Thursday, January 6th, 2005 N.Y. Post



January 6, 2005 -- Police brass are making a new push against one of their oldest problems ? crime in Brooklyn's 75th Precinct, which again last year led the city in murders, robberies and shootings.


"We want to continue to suppress crime in the 75th Precinct," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told The Post. "Crime is down dramatically over the last 10 years, but we want to drive it down even more."


The 75th, which includes the neighborhoods of East New York, Cypress Hills and Starrett City, will be subdivided into three patrol zones, Kelly said.


Each zone will be overseen by a captain, who will report to Michael Marino, the current precinct commander. Marino was recently promoted from inspector to deputy chief.


Also, the 75th will get 100 new cops from the Police Academy class of 1,300 cops who graduate tomorrow, as well as extra cars and scooters.


The 5.5-square-mile 75th is one of the city's biggest police precincts geographically. By requiring cops to confine their patrols to their assigned zones, police hope to respond to crime quicker and with greater presence.


"The goal is to lower crime," Kelly said.


The 75th has long been known as the city's most violent precinct. In 1993, The Post called the 75th New York's "Killing Ground," and noted that it had a murder every 63 hours.


A sign on the wall of the detective bureau said, "Give us 22 minutes, we'll give you a homicide."


Some people in the neighborhood were so scared, they slept in their bathtubs in hope the metal would stop bullets.


As in the rest of the city, the 75th has experienced a dramatic drop in crime since then.


"It went from a battleground to a playground," said a recently-retired 75th Precinct detective. "The street can still be dangerous . . . but it's dramatically safer than it was back in the early 90s."


The precinct saw 29 murders in 2004, compared to 126 in 1993 ? a 77 percent drop over 11 years.


Murders were down 5 percent last year over 2003, when the precinct reported 32 slayings.


Crime is down dramatically in other categories, too ? since 1993, shootings are down 68 percent and robberies are down 72 percent, police data show.