Joan Roth is the scared — and angry — face of spiraling crime on the Upper East Side.
In three years, she’s been robbed and assaulted three times – part of what she says is a sign of the bad old days returning with a vengeance.
“I feel really angry,” Roth, 81, said. “I feel vulnerable. Our neighborhood has really changed.”
Roth, a photographer who has lived in the same rent-controlled apartment for 60 years, said her neighborhood has never quite recovered from its COVID funk.
“I don’t feel safe and I want to be safe,” she said.
Robberies were up a staggering 60%, from 138 in 2018 to 221 in 2023 in the NYPD’s 19th Precinct where she lives, NYPD data show.
Felonious assaults climbed 25% from 147 to 184 in the same span.
Robberies were down 5 percent in 2023 compared to 2022 but in the last 28-day period recorded by the NYPD they are soaring — 25% higher than last year, from 12 to 15.
NYC robberies have risen 5% in the new year: NYPD
In the first three weeks of the year, robberies were up 40% from 10 to 14.