In response to a recent shooting in the area and a general uptick in violent crime, the Police Department installed a Skywatch surveillance tower on the corner of 194th Street and Marion Avenue.

Since its installation, residents have reported a dramatic drop in crime and say they would like to see the tower stay. Three years ago, the department placed a Skywatch tower on Kingsbridge Road and Morris Avenue after a series of shootings. This is the first time the tower has returned to the 52nd Precinct.

“This block is hot and when things are going down the way they have been, the cops are going to show up,” said local resident Tony Gonzalez. “[The towers] look stupid but people around here seem to like it.”

Recent transplant Bibi Khan agreed. “The [tower] here is necessary and comforting,” he said. “I feel safer and more protected now. I am new to this neighborhood and it’s really dangerous around here.”

At the most recent meeting of the 52nd Precinct Community Council, Lieutenant James McGeown, the new executive officer in the Five-Two, said he couldn’t say how long the tower would be in place. “[The Police Department] moves them around based on the crime trends.”

Ray Herasme, the precinct’s director of special operations, said the Skywatch tower was placed there following a shooting incident that claimed three victims (all of whom survived) in early May.

The area surrounding the Skywatch tower, between 194th and 196th streets and Marion and Valentines avenues, has also experienced a surge in robberies. Herasme said the robberies are mostly the “youth on youth” kind where kids are being “strong-armed” by other kids for their mobile phones and portable music players.

Last Thursday morning, at least four young people were robbed in the area, all within an hour of one another. One seventh grade student from Our Lady of Refuge school said he was threatened with a wrench.

Herasme said he did not believe the incidents were gang related, but he did say the crimes were being committed by the same crew of teenagers. He added that they had made a couple of arrests in connection with the robberies.

Local resident Guillermo Zepeda said the area where the robberies occurred, which is known as one of the most crime-ridden in the precinct, is getting worse. “As of late, it’s horrible,” he said.

He added that although the tower was helping on Marion, it was more of the same rampant drug dealing on other local blocks. “It’s incredible, how they operate right out in the open,” he said.

Even before the string of incidents last Thursday, robberies were up in the 52nd Precinct. In the 28-day period ending on May 23, robberies were up 23.3 percent from the same period last year (37 this year, compared to 30 last year).  Car thefts also spiked significantly over the past month, from 12 last year, to 19 this year.

—Additional reporting by Bobby Rice