From a reader:
My wife and I moved to CH this past summer, we live in North Campus of the Co-Ops and walking the dog the last couple of days on Waverly and Vanderbilt between Willoughby and Myrtle I have seen 8 cars with smashed windows. Luckily my parents’ old Ford Taurus which I borrowed for the holidays was left unmolested but the car in front and behind were hit. I know the holiday season sees an increase in this kind of crime but it still seems a little odd. I know you post 88th precinct stats occasionally. I was wondering if you had noticed this, if anyone else has commented.
I haven’t seen any of this personally, but has anyone experienced this recently? Waverly is awfully quiet at night, and I imagine it would be a prime locale for mischief like this.
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26 Comments
I’ve seen the occasional broken car window on Waverly but hadn’t noticed a trend.
I had my mother’s car up from NJ for literally two nights, and it had its window smashed on the second one.
It was parked on Taaffe between Myrtle and Willoughby this past Tuesday night. This is the second time it’s been smashed, and in my case, they rooted through the glove box but there was nothing to steal because my ashtray (where people sometimes keep change) had already been stolen and as a habit I keep nothing in my car.
I regularly see the glass shards where a window has been smashed on that part of Taaffe, as well as on Willoughby between Classon and Taaffe (where my mirror was stolen) and on Classon between Myrtle & Willoughby by St Mary’s church (where my first window was broken).
My whole family has concluded that you just can’t have a car in this area because it inevitably will get broken into or vandalized.
i saw a saturn on dekalb between cumberland & south oxford this morning with the drivers window smashed and the contents of the glove compartment all over the seats. that’s another stretch where i see broken window glass all the timo – right across from fort greene park.
I have noticed a trend and it concludes, Don’t park on Hall Street. there Always is broken glass along the curbs. When I moved into the ‘hood I parked in the Willoughby Hall Pratt Parking lot with a guard & still had my battery and ski racks stolen. I don’t own a car now.
I’ve noticed a lot more of it since Christmas along Willougby. Every day there have been one or two windows smashed. Sure, that stuff happens occasionally but not every day like this.
I live on Waverly & Dekalb and caught a guy breaking my window in November just before Thanksgiving after hearing his attempts while sitting in my living room! Sadly I didn’t have my keys to actually get out of my gate to chase after him, but know my block has sadly been a bit notorious in that department. I’ve since ditched my car too, the hassle became just too much.
oh, if it’s the same guy going on a neighborhood spree, he’s not at all particular, either. He broke into my car to steal a tied black trash bag half-full of clothes slated for the Salvation Army. Don’t leave ANYTHING within sight inside your car if you intend to park in the hood!
And for those affected by such fun things, Joe’s Auto Glass on 7th Ave in the slope is the greatest! I had a new window in 30 mins with insurance squared away like that.
I really think I need to stop reading this site, because I just get more freaked out about living in brooklyn, especially cause I have my car with me.
I love this site because it’s nice to know what’s going on but when I hear stuff like this or about the shootings on Christmas eve, I really wish I hadn’t read it.
I guess maybe moving from the suburbs to Brooklyn is a little too much of a culture shock for me.
My car has been broken into twice on Waverly between Willoughby and DeKalb. They stole my umbrella! Over Christmas someone ripped the bra off the front of my car (same block of Waverly). You’d think I would stop parking there but …no.
On Sunday morning & afternoon, we saw two smashed windows on Lafayette, one around Cumberland (not sure just where) and the other closer to Vanderbilt. Presumably they’ve all been reported to the police?
Speaking of smashed windows, in trhe event that one is unlucky enough to have this done to them, is there any place in or around the hood where people would recommend getting them fixed?
I had my window smashed and a GPS stolen last summer. My fault for leaving it visible in the car, but it still sucked. It was on Kent just north of Dekalb.
I have to call potential bullshit on this thread. It only takes one guy to create and then respond to a story about a bunch of smashed car windows in a neighborhood. I walk all of these streets mentioned above every day, and I see broken car glass now and then, but have not seen any evidence of a trend. Nobody has so much as scratched my car in my two years of parking it on Hall, Willoughby, and Clinton, knock on wood. Lesterhead, do you know the identity of the person who reported this to you?
I walk on Waverly (between Willoughby & Dekalb) often and sometimes park there. My car was broken into (and radio stolen) about a year ago. I do not think there is a trend, per se, but these incidents seem to happen in spurts. There are some video cameras on Waverly and they could have very well recorded footage of some of these incidents.
One thing i didn’t mention, is that when i called the police, they were pretty insistent that I not file a police report because it wouldn’t do any good. I wish I had.
Barb: knock on wood indeed. With all due respect, I *live* (not just parking there) on Hall and am curious: how do you park your car without crashing into other cars, or avoid getting run over or walking into streetlights while parking and walking around the neighborhood with your eyes squeezed tightly shut?
In the last two years, I have twice caught people red-handed breaking into cars (once quickly enough to call the cops and get the guy arrested) and am awakened in the middle of the night on average 2 or 3 times per week every week to a car being broken into (I sleep lightly). Beyond that, why in the world would people make up stories about their cars getting broken into, and why would you want to try to counter that story?
Yes Barb, with all due respect, I just forked over $228 yesterday to have my window replaced, and I very much wish that were just a product of my imagination.
The number of car break-ins and muggings has increased dramatically over the last few months. My car, and 4 of my friends have all been hit in the last month. I see new broken glass almost daily. The Society for Clinton Hill is having a discussion about this at their next meeting on Jan. 17, 7 pm, St. Lukes Church on Washington Ave. I am going.
I live in the neighborhood and when I went to run an errand about an hour ago, the block on Clinton Ave. btw Lafayette & Greene was filled w/police cars and trucks, word is that in the Clinton Hill Coops there was (depending on the version) a man holding family at gunpoint/a murderer trying to commit suicide and people who live in the complex could not enter their apartments. I don’t see anything in the news but this has been going on for a while this afternoon.
we’ve had our broken into twice in the neighborhood. the first time was on waverly between willoughby and dekalb (behind st. joseph’s college) and the second was on vanderbilt between willoughby and dekalb (behind st. joseph’s college library). the second time we were 1 of 4 cars parked in row that had their passenger side window smashed – the last car still had the rock that the !@#$ used sitting inside the car. my husband and i were walking up to our car at the same time the family of the SUV parked in front of us was walking up to theirs and noticed around the same time. the contents of the glove compartment and trunk were ransacked. it was unbelievable. they took some gum and wet wipes from the glove compartment and an umbrella from the trunk that my husband had for ten years. there was even blood stains on the passenger side seat; i’m guessing it was from cutting themselves on glass. the police took FOREVER (like, 2 hours) to come and when they did they never got out of their vehicle to look. please insist that you file a police report so it will register as a crime in the neighborhood. holding the cops to their crime stats is the only way to get more patrols and increased response times. we never park on that block on vanderbilt anymore.
I just got rid of my car last month… but in 2.5 years in Willoughby Walk Co-ops (right by Hall), I never had any issues with my car being vandalized. Not a single incident.
Minerva, no need to attack Barb, or anyone else who voices their dissenting opinion on this.
I’ve lived on Taaffe Place bet. Myrtle & Willoughby down from Sputnik– during the last two weeks in December 2-3 car windows were broken for a one week period. While it’s obviously difficult for the police to monitor these relatively minor crimes– I do think something needs to be done. Taaffe, like Waverly is a pretty quiet block with a convent on the block(!!!). Now I’m at least motivated to oin or start some sort of neighborhood watch program,
Also wanted to add- the information about the meeting at St. Luke’s Church is helpful and I, too, will be there- although I’m confused about whether Taaffe Place is technically in Clinton Hill or Bed Stuy. The bottom line is that breaking into cars is not only ILLEGAL it’s a major inconvenience– I, too, cut my hand with the tiny pieces of glass that were left all over my car and, after 30 minutes waiting in the cold, I left before the police got there. And it’s expensive to replace car windows. Since there aren’t too many garage options in the area this definitely has to be addressed.
My car’s been broken into 2x. Once on Waverly behind St. Joseph’s college and the 2nd time on Vanderbilt by Willoughby. Both times were a multiple car situation. I filed police reports both times but it took 1.5 to 2 hors for the cops to show up.
Brian, I emailed the comment to Robin. I was wondering if there was a trend? There is no scientific data here, but it seems like Waverly and Hall are bad places to park. The other part of my question was whether there was any fresh data from the 88th Precinct.
Its not my intention to scare people out of the neighborhood so I can gobble up real estate. It speaks to the lack of eyes on these streets. Clinton, Myrtle, DeKalb are busy blocks not likely to suffer from this problem. St. Joseph’s should have cameras on Waverly, Pratt on Hall. I’m not sure what’s bullshit about what I asked.
My car was stolen two days after Thanksgiving from the corner of Lafayette & Clinton Avenues. Police determined it was stolen with a tow truck. Police said tow trucks are used now because its quick and draws no suspicion. So next time you see your neighbor’s car being towed it might be in the process of being stolen.
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