Auto Break-ins on the Rise

The Queens Chronicle has reported that auto invasions are occurring as often as once per night in the Norwood Gardens area (35th-37th Sts. between 30th and 31st Aves.) of Astoria.

From Queen Chronicle:

Residents point out that the crimes spike over the weekends, when an influx of outsiders crowd bars and restaurants in the busy 30th Avenue commercial area.
Pearl Thomas was affected when her boyfriend’s parents’ luxury 2007 Audi was broken into. “You know, it’s
embarrassing,” Thomas said. “I’ve lived in Astoria for the last seven
years and they’ve [the boyfriend’s parents] visited us before and
nothing happened. And now, we move into this area and the car gets
broken into,” the 36th Street resident said.

If you have a car in this or another area of Astoria, never leave any visible valuables--especially GPS units. If your case has been broken into, please take the time to report it.

Tags: break-ins, car, crime, norwood gardens, police, queens chronicle

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Comment by Kevin on April 16, 2010 at 5:21pm: This happened right in front of my place (33 St. between Broadway & 31 Ave.) on Friday the 9th. I wasn't home, but I was walking home at about 11:30pm and found the over filling out a police report. Apparently the only thing that was stolen was a sweater. I was pretty surprised to see that this happened before 11:30 on a Friday on 33 St., it's not exactly a quiet, empty place.

Comment by Jessica on April 16, 2010 at 3:51pm: Back in the early 2000's and late 90's Astoria had a car vandalism/theft problem. The hood was once rated as one of the highest boroughs of car break-ins. Fortunately that improved A LOT over time. It is important to know, but sad to hear that this may be a problem again. I used to have a car, and when I first moved here in 2004, after a few months, it was vandalized. I eventually got rid of it. I feel safer without a car in the city. Be safe!

Comment by Jonathan on April 15, 2010 at 11:16pm: This is happening on my block as well

Comment by Molly Allen on April 14, 2010 at 11:06pm: This past weekend I saw a car in front of the BP on 30th Ave near Steinway that looked as if a person had jumped on the car and crushed it starting at the back and stomping all the way forward. It was really disturbing because it seemed so excessive that it wasn't just a break in or random. It had to be hate motivated.

Comment by Ian Hardouin on April 14, 2010 at 5:35pm: I've noticed a rash of break-ins not just in this area, but across several parts of Astoria. I've lived here three years and haven't seen anything like the frequency of smashed car-windows that I've come across in the past few months. Certainly the lagging economy is really starting to play out on increased crime. Be safe and smart everyone. And this isn't limited to Astoria, but parts of Manhattan many of us would consider safe also.

Comment by Jeff Henley on April 14, 2010 at 10:02am: I wonder if this is the reason for the big police presence down by Astoria Park.
When walking to work the past few days I see like 20 police cars and a large RV-looking mobile command center type vehicle by 21 St. and Hoyt ave. I walk that route pretty regularly, but I don't recall seeing such a large group of squad cars.

Comment by Emily Cintron on April 13, 2010 at 11:05pm: I live just over the border in Woodside (54th Street and 32nd Ave). I've been seeing this kind of stuff around here on a regular basis over the past few years. It makes me especially sad for the car owner when I notice the broken glass one day, and then it rains later that night and they don't find out about it until the next day when their whole interior is nice and soggy. My car stays in a garage, but that was also broken into two summers ago. They just forced the door up, breaking the whole track system in the process. They got my husband's bike and also rummaged through my car, which didn't contain anything of value and was unlocked since it was in the garage and I didn't think to lock it. Actually in this case it was probably better that it was unlocked since they might have broken the window to get in if it had been locked. The cops came and listened to what happened, but were pretty blunt with us that there wasn't much hope of the bike ever coming back and we should get a better lock for the garage.

Comment by Jay Nima on April 13, 2010 at 3:09pm: there was a another GPS break-in by Astoria Blvd and 18th street on Sunday as well.

Comment by Eric Gordon on April 13, 2010 at 2:36pm: When I lived in Greenpoint, my car was broken into 3 times in 2 years. I've been here almost 2 years now, and (luckily) nobody's touched my car. Although I do see broken window glass in the street, so I know it's only a matter of time. I don't leave valuables out, but sometimes "they" just want to ransack a car and see what turns up, which has been the case 2 out of my 3 break-ins.

Comment by Maggie on April 13, 2010 at 2:35pm: My friends car just had this happen to him this past Saturday night, his GPS was stolen when his car was parked on 37th St. and 30th ave. at around 6am.