111th Precinct Sees 9.8 Percent Drop in Crime in 2011

Crime dropped 9.8 percent this year in the with lower numbers of incidents in five of the seven major crime categories.

There were two murders in the precinct in 2011. The year’s first homicide involved a Bayside man, who in February.

Matthew Devlin is alleged to have fatally struck his mother in the head with the bat during a Feb. 12 argument at her home on 215th Street, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.

The defendant is also accused of going after his brother with the bat, causing lacerations that were closed with 35 staples.

Devlin, who will next appear in court on Feb. 15, has been indicted on murder charges following his mother’s death in the hospital.

The precinct’s other homicide in 2011 was a crime that was upgraded to a murder, Capt. Ron Leyson said.

A homicide that took place in Flushing’s 109th Precinct involved residents from Douglaston and Little Neck.

On March 14, Little Neck’s Caleb Ahn, 16, and Astoria’s Karma Sonam, 16, were arrested after they are alleged to have , 28, on Northern Boulevard in Flushing.

The defendants and the victim were allegedly negotiating the purchase of an unspecified amount of marijuana at the time of the shooting, a spokeswoman for the DA said.

Ahn, who has still not been indicted in the shooting, will return to court on Jan. 3, a DA spokeswoman said.

According to the 111th’s crime statistics for the year, five of the six remaining crime categories have seen dips in the number of incidents.

The number of rapes fell from six incidents in 2010 to five in 2011, while the number of robberies dropped from 80 incidents last year to 78 this year.

Felonious assaults fell from 51 incidents to 47 during the past year, while burglaries dropped from 248 incidents to 189.

The precinct reported 104 grand larceny auto incidents in 2011, as opposed to 135 incidents in 2010.

But the number of grand larcenies rose slightly to 368 incidents from 360 incidents during the previous year.

The 111th Precinct covers Douglaston, Bayside and Little Neck.