Spike in Robberies On Upper West Side

There has been a dramatic rise in robberies on the Upper West Side this year, according to data from the Police Department.

In the 20th Precinct, which covers 59th to 86th streets, the number of robberies has increased 85% through Sunday, to 37 versus 20 for the same period two months last year, the statistics show. In the 24th Precinct, which covers 86th to 110th streets, there was a 25% spike, with 45 robberies for the first 64 days of the year versus 36 robberies last year.

The surge in the number of robbery reports is in part driven by an increase in youth-on-youth robberies, police officials said. Robbery arrests were up exponentially in the two precincts. There were 21 arrests this year through Sunday in the 20th Precinct compared with five last year. In the 24th Precinct, there were 37 this year versus 13 in 2005.

The Upper West Side robbery numbers do not mirror citywide trends for major crime: Overall, the only crime statistic to increase during the first two months of the year were reports of rapes.