Roosevelt Island Residents Arrested For Robbing Victim Of Jewelry And Bicycle Behind Roosevelt Landings Late Friday Night, A Knife Was Shown But No Injuries - Is There More Roosevelt Island Crime Or Just More Public Reporting Of Incidents?

Image Of Roosevelt Island Public Safety Department Shield From RIOC

According to the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Daily Public Safety Report:

8/15/14 - 2340 - Robbery - 560 Main St - PSD/NYPD responded - #2 Males arrested by NYPD - No injures.

In response to an inquiry, a NYPD Spokesperson said that the victim was standing with girlfriend behind 560 Main Street (Roosevelt Landings) about 11:30 PM when approached by 2 males. One of the males showed a knife, the victim's pockets were searched and a watch and sterling silver bracelet were stolen.

Roosevelt Island Public Safety Department Director Jack McManus adds that there were 3 robbers taking part in this incident. In addition to the jewelry, a bicycle was also stolen. Two of the 3 were caught soon after the robbery by the NYPD working together with Public Safety. The robbers arrested are in their late teens and Roosevelt Island residents.

Some residents reading reports of crime on Roosevelt Island are concerned that there has been a recent increase in such incidents. A former Roosevelt Island Public Safety Officer (Rush Mob), responding to Cheshire Kitty, stated that opinion in this recent comment:

... You blame Guerra for 5 years of over enforcement, but what you forget is that he followed what his RIOC bosses wanted. James Frye did the same thing. He followed what his bosses wanted too. Only he went around cursing people out. He didn't care about the community. He just did what his bosses wanted - which at that time was NOTHING. Now we have a new Director, who is doing the same thing - following what his RIOC bosses want. The only drastic change at PSD is that we have more assaults, robberies, burglaries and drug sales on the island....

I replied to Rush Mob:

Do you have any evidence that there are more assaults, robberies etc on Roosevelt Island now than in the past?

Could it be that the current RIOC President and Director Of Public Safety are more open and transparent in reporting these incidents to the community? The residents now know what is happening when there is a crime rather than in the past when such information was very difficult to obtain.

One way to compare then and now is on the RIOC Calls For Services/Response Stat page. Unfortunately, RIOC has not updated those statistics since April 2014.

Will update if Rush Mob responds.