Another Brooklyn Precinct Probed for Fudging Crime Stats

This time, police sources say, it's the 77th Precinct in Crown Heights. So far, "numerous" officers and detectives have been grilled by the Quality Assurance Division, the NYPD unit that audits crime statistics.

The probe is focusing in part on a large number of crime complaints that were classified as "lost property," the sources said. Probers are looking into whether, in order to reduce the crime numbers, cops in the precinct listed burglary, robbery, and larceny complaints as lost property, which is not a crime.

The 7-7, as it is known, is located in Patrol Borough Brooklyn North, the same command that oversees the 81st Precinct. As Voice readers know, the 81st Precinct commander, Steven Mauriello, was transferred in July following a similar QAD investigation, and after publication of the Voice's "NYPD Tapes" series, which contained allegations of crime stat manipulation.

Interestingly, the precinct's crime statistics are actually up so far this year by nearly 13 percent. Burglaries are up 32 percent for the year. Whether that reflects an "adjustment" of inaccurate numbers is unclear at this point.