Special to Norwood News

As crime remains a stubborn problem for some areas of Norwood and its surrounding neighborhoods, the 52nd Precinct is set to embrace some radical crime fighting methods. The news comes amid a year where the Five-Two won the year, though barely.

While the number of victims last year was low compared to the precinct’s more problematic days, the Five-Two was hit with a surge of homicides and shootings, as well as bumps in other major crime categories.

It still managed to show a four percent drop when the seven major crime categories were lumped together, but it ranked within the top 10 of the city’s 77 precincts for overall crime complaints, more so for its murders, shootings, robberies and felony assaults.

“The Five-Two has always been a tough precinct,” said one Bronx borough command police source. “Thankfully, the actual numbers are a lot lower these days.”

Under a new policing plan now in the works, the NYPD hopes to dramatically change policing strategy there, both geographically and tactically.

While precinct patrol coverage is now broken up into 15 geographic sectors, the new Neighborhood Based Policing plan calls for it to be divided into four sectors. Each new sector will have two Neighborhood Coordinating Officers–in effect, super beat cops–assigned.

“Their job will be to get involved with the community, attend local meetings, get to know the neighborhood and its crime problems,” said precinct commander, Inspector Nilda Hofmann. Each sector will also have two dedicated sector car teams, giving them free time to deal with local issues while other precinct patrol cars respond to 911 emergency calls, she added.

Hofmann said she is working to keep neighborhoods geographically intact within each new sector in the precinct, which also covers Bedford Park, Kingsbridge Heights, University Heights, and Fordham.

The new plan, already in effect within the 47th Precinct in the northeast Bronx, and to be running in four other Bronx precincts by April, is expected to get rolling in the Five-Two sometime late this spring or early summer, she said.

Community Board 7 Chair Adaline Walker-Santiago is eager to see the plan come to her precinct. “We know the plan will work because it’s been very successful in the 47th Precinct,” she said, “and it’s involving the community organizations and the business leaders of the community in helping to solve crime. We love working with our precinct. They’ve done an excellent job.”

Besides the new policing plan, Hofmann said she’s hoping a recent major takedown of a local drug gang, along with now active investigations into other gangs in the hot zone running along Decatur and Jerome avenues, north of 192nd Street, will help reduce crime this year.

The precinct racked up 12 homicides last year, compared to seven in 2014. Shootings were also up, from 28 in 2014 to 33 last year, with a number of those gang-related.

Hofmann attributed most of last year’s felony-level assaults–558 compared to 542 in 2014–to domestic and gang-related violence. Rapes increased 7.1 percent, with 30 last year compared to 28 in 2014.

But helping to win the year was a 26 percent drop in robberies, from 371 to 275, while grand larceny, which lumped cell phone and laptop thefts into the category, dropped 5.8 percent, going from 710 in 2014 to 669 last year.

Besides the new Neighborhood Based Policing plan, each precinct cop has received a department-issued cell phone connected to NYPD databases.

“They can run the address while responding to a 911 call, giving them information about the location, the number of times 911 has been called, the number of domestic and wanted cases in the building, and any orders of protection,” said Hofmann. “It’ll all pop up for them.”

While cops in general have been taking a beating in some of the public’s eyes, Hofmann said she stresses to her officers how their image is perceived. “I tell them to treat people the same way you’d treat your family,” she said. “Build community relations and you won’t have a problem.”