With robberies, assaults and rapes rising sharply and two shootings in recent weeks, Deputy Inspector John D’Adamo, the commanding officer of the 52nd Police Precinct, did not sugar coat the fact that this area of the Bronx had gone through a rough stretch of increased crime.

“April was tough,” D’Adamo said in a recent interview.
For the 28-day period ending on May 9, the amount of robberies had doubled compared to the same time period a year ago, from 24 last year, to 49 this year.

D’Adamo attributed much of that increase to young people robbing other people. He said a huge portion of the robberies were happening on or around Fordham Road, on the west side of precinct, near Andrews Avenue. In response, D’Adamo said he increased patrols around the area and that there had been very few robberies there since the beginning of May.

Still, during the first week of May, robberies were up, from seven to 13, when compared to the same week last year. For the year, however, D’Adamo pointed out that robberies were down about 6 percent (from 178 last year, to 167 this year), according to official NYPD statistics.

On the other hand, felony assaults, which can include anything from domestic violence to gun violence, and rapes, are both up for the year. Felony assaults have spiked nearly 19 percent, from 122 last year, to 145 this year. Rapes are up from eight at this point in 2009, to 11 so far in 2010, including four during the first week of May.

D’Adamo said many of these assaults and rapes are happening behind closed doors in cases of domestic violence, which he says are “hard to enforce.”

But at least two recent cases of assault happened on the street and resulted in bloodshed. Two weeks ago, three people were shot near the corner of 194th Street and Marion Avenue early Saturday morning. All of the victims were expected to live. D’Adamo said the shooting was still under investigation, but that his detectives had “good video” on the incident and were chasing down some promising leads.

He also said Five-Two detectives had solid video on a shooting that happened outside of 2305 Marion Ave. A victim was struck in his left leg from an assailant who came up behind him. D’Adamo wouldn’t go into detail about the motive behind the attack because of the ongoing investigation.

One thing that has remained more or less consistent this year, D’Adamo said, is a sharp increase in arrests compared to last year. He said arrests are up 30 percent this year. He added that the precinct needs help from the community, which he called the precinct’s “partner” and its “eyes and ears.” If residents have tips, they can call (718) 220-5811 and ask for the detective squad. D’Adamo assured that callers will receive complete anonymity.