9 Neighborhoods to Avoid in Brooklyn

If the first thing that comes to mind when needing to travel to Brooklyn for any reason is your safety, which is most likely the reason why you are checking out the 9 neighborhoods to avoid in Brooklyn. Or if could be that you’re just curious and not stupidly afraid of an entire borough made up of very different people and neighborhoods.

Whatever the case, you’re here! And while you are here it wouldn’t hurt take a peek at the 10 Worst, Poorest, and Most Dangerous Neighborhoods in New York City as it goes hand-in-hand with the information provided in this listicle, since technically Brooklyn is a borough in NYC and both make up part of what is typically perceived to be a state, or at least a city, with a bad rap on crime.  But why all the hate?

Over the years, New York has been known to have an above average crime rate. I have found, however, that in the course of nearly two decades that the crime rates have been dropping, but still the reputation remains. This made my findings a little confusing since half of what I was reading were locals and tourists saying that Brooklyn is a pleasant place to live and to visit, and the other half of the locals claiming they don’t go into certain neighborhoods and tourists rambling off horror stories of their cousin’s girlfriend’s grandmother’s neighbor who visited Brooklyn and was lucky enough to get mugged instead of stabbed, like some other poor soul. So, who do I trust here?

Well, lucky for you, I wasn’t satisfied with the hearsay from locals and tourists from sites like Trip Advisor and Virtual Tourist. Mind you, I did start to see a pattern with a handful of neighborhoods being mentioned over and over, but I needed something a little more solid than John Doe’s cousin’s girlfriend blah, blah, blah in order to find the 9 Neighborhoods to Avoid in Brooklyn. That’s when I stumbled onto the NYPD’s site, and found just what I was after! Granted, I didn’t completely throw away the dirt that was accumulating on some of these neighborhoods from other site’s, but rather let it inform what I had previously found with the police department’s  crime map.

The rate of crimes detected on this map indicates major felony crimes. So, we’re not talking these little slap-on-the-wrist crimes that might end in a fine in the mail. No, we’re talking more along the lines of robbery and burglary, rape, manslaughter, murder—that sort of thing. The kinds of crimes that make these locals and tourists feel the need to be looking over their shoulder when traveling through a “bad” neighborhood; and I couldn’t help but find some real-life crimes to help paint a picture in your mind about the types of things that might make these particular tourists and locals feel that way.

Along with what I mentioned about New York’s crime rate [overall] decreasing,  I noticed that a lot of the neighborhoods I was jotting down as potential neighborhoods to avoid in Brooklyn had, surprisingly lower crime rates than what sources were making them out to seem. I took notice that most all of these other sources were at the very least one-year-old, whereas the crime map is updated on a monthly basis.

This further proves that the law enforcement officers in Brooklyn (along with New York, altogether), along with community leaders and most of all the residents of these neighborhoods, are taking strides to successfully decrease the rate of crime in these areas and, in turn, make it a safer place to both live in and visit. In the future, these particular infamous neighborhoods may clean up their streets a bit more, but many won’t forget about the many crimes that have already taken place here. Especially, a police officer who was involved in a terrible shooting that caused the death of his partner. The two officers were going about their dangerous jobs one morning in 1998, searching for a man who failed to show up for court. The man shot and wounded the one officer, who valiantly shot back, despite his life-threatening wounds, and killed the criminal. Although the criminial may have got what was coming to him, the officer only lived a few hours longer. Now check out the 9 Neighborhoods to Avoid in Brooklyn.

 

9. East Flatbush

Kicking off my list is New York’s 67^th precinct known as East Flatbush, next on our list of neighborhoods to avoid in Brooklyn. Just glancing at the NYPD Crime Map, East Flatbush doesn’t seem like it has any more or less crime than most of Brooklyn, but from what locals and tourists had to say about it—I had to take a closer look. And from what I found, East Flatbush used to be riddled with drugs and violence. Like all of New York, the total crime in East Flatbush has dramatically decreased since the early 90’s. However, while most Brooklyn neighborhoods are getting less and less violent as the years go on this area may not be doing the same.

If you compare the rate at which these violent crimes occurred in the beginning of this year as opposed to that of the same time frame (January 1^st – 31^st)  from 2016, you will find that the crime rate has, in fact, increased from 1.1658 crimes per 1000 residents to 1.1852. These crimes include 22 burglaries, 51 felony assaults, 64 grand larcenies, 6 grand larcenies of motor vehicles, 40 robberies and one murder totaling in a whopping 184 crimes in January of 2017, alone! While that seems like a high number (well, it is…) we must also take into consideration that East Flatbush has a larger population of 155,252—which is double the population of some of the neighborhoods on this list, however, the crime rate isn’t even close to double the crime in other neighborhoods.

 

8. Park Slope

Brooklyn parents must be clutching their pearls to see The Slope on this list of neighborhoods to avoid in Brooklyn! Although the 78^th precinct, which consists mainly of Park Slope, seems to have a pretty decent ranking with the locals in the sense that most don’t bat an eye when needing to travel through this area of Brooklyn, it’s no secret that some serious crimes can still be found here.  With a lower population of 66,715, the crime rate is still at a high 1.2441 crimes per 1,000 residents. So far this year, 15 burglaries, 8 felony assaults, 41 grand larcenies, 6 grand larcenies of motor vehicles, 11 robberies and two rapes have been accounted for. Even with crime diminishing since the early 90’s, some serious stuff still goes down. Back in ’97 a heroic neighbor of two Palestinian [terrorists] gave a couple of patrol officers a tip-off about their plot to bomb a subway station. Being an Egyptian immigrant who’s first language was not English, he communicated to the best of his ability to these officers and they miraculously pieced everything together just in the nick of time! It appeared that when their Park Slope apartment had been raided by police, the two criminals were already cocked and ready to go; one of them being shot when reaching for his detonator. Both men lived and were convicted, however, it was a close call considering plotting bombs in subway stations isn’t something you pull-off overnight, yet the officers only had one night to pull off their act of heroism. A couple of hours later and everyone’s lives who traveled on that subway that day would have been changed forever.

 

7. Prospect Heights/Crown Heights

The 77^th precinct is made up of Prospect and Crown Heights, next on our list of neighborhoods to avoid in Brooklyn. While locals will rave more about the dangers of Crown Heights, the adjacent neighborhoods have a combined population of 90,744 with a rate of 1.102 crimes per 1,000 residents. Of the 100 reported crimes this year, alone 24 of them were burglaries, 21 felony assaults, 29 grand larcenies, 7 grand larcenies of motor vehicles, 17 robberies and two rapes. But, luckily these numbers are substantially lower this year than last. This doesn’t do much good for the Petro-Nixon family who lost their daughter, Chanel back in 2006. The honor student was said to have left for a job interview and never returned. Her strangled body was found on Crown Heights’ border with her killer still on the loose, nearly 11 years later.

 

6. Brownsville

We are continuing our list of neighborhoods to avoid in Brooklyn with Brownsville that used to be the murder capital of all of New York! USED to be… Okay, so the reputation kinda stuck around all these years and it is often still referred to as one of the absolute worst neighborhoods in Brooklyn, but today it is certainly not as bad of a neighborhood it used to be. It makes up the 73^rd precinct with 86,468 residents. The crime rate is at a higher 1.3184/1,000 residents, but that number is substantially lower than what it was years ago, and seems to be lowering still each year! Out of those crimes, 14  were burglaries, 48 felony assaults, 22 grand larcenies, 9 grand larcenies of motor vehicles, 19 robberies, 1 rape and 1 murder. Okay, so there’s still some shootings going on, but at this rate, by the end of the year the number of shootings will be less than half of what it was even just 7 years ago; which has still come a long way from the types of crimes that used to go down in Brownsville. Much like the spontaneous murder of an NYPD Patrolman that occurred in 1971. The young officer was having an everyday conversation with a man outside of a bodega in Brownsville. Little did the officer know, it would be his last conversation. The man unexpectedly slashed the officer’s throat and was convicted of murder when the officer died shortly thereafter.

 

5. Bushwick

As a larger neighborhood, Bushwick, number five on our list of neighborhoods to avoid in Brooklyn has a population of 112,634. Unfortunately, with this higher population comes a higher crime rate of 1.3317/1,000 residents. And even more unfortunately, the 40 burglaries, 26 felony assaults, 37 grand larcenies, 11 grand larcenies of motor vehicles, 34 robberies and 2 rapes that make up the 150 total crimes this year is higher than that of what it was just last year. Let’s hope those numbers don’t keep increasing, and murders like one, in particular, that took place in 1989, where a mother—a do-gooder in her community—attempted to clean the streets of Bushwick up a bit. A woman with some serious huevos, she collected as much information for authorities as possible and even confronted drug dealers! Two dealers shot five bullets through her bedroom window one night. Although she was killed, thankfully her husband and toddler were unharmed. The city, however, would not let her story be forgotten so easily, as they decided to name the city park after her.

 

4. Bedford-Stuyvesant

Locals refer to it as ‘Bed-Stuy’ and it’s huge! I’m not just talking about the fact that it takes up two separate precincts (79 & 81), but hello!—Jay-Z grew up on these streets! But focusing on the crime in Bed-Stuy, next one on the list of neighborhoods to avoid in Brooklyn before I trail off topic; to make it less confusing by spewing an extra set of numbers at ya, I’ll target my attention towards the western side of this neighborhood, since its crime rate is higher even with fewer residents! With 108 total crimes this year, you would think that the eastern side (79^th precinct) would have the west side (81^st precinct) beat since its total crime is only 84, BUT the east side has nearly 30,000 more people in it to make up that crime; not to mention, of those crimes, the west side of Bed-Stuy has more violent crimes. Along with 19 burglaries, 21 felony assaults, 27 grand larcenies with one grand larceny of a motor vehicle and 12 robberies, Bed-Stuy has had three rapes and one murder so far this year. However, for both the east and west side, these numbers are lower than that of the crimes accounted for in the same time frame of last year (east side being at a 1.1965 and west side with 1.3392).  Changes in the system like the one made in ’96 after a helpless 7-year-old girl was murdered is just what this neighborhood needs to keep their crime rates lowering. The poor girl was beaten to death by her abusive step-father while authorities turned their noses up to the obvious signs of abuse. So sad that it took an innocent child being tortured to her grave over a container of yogurt to get them to open their eyes, but since then some major changes in the city’s child welfare system have been made to prevent this type of violent behavior from repeating itself. Let’s see what’s next on our list of neighborhoods to avoid in Brooklyn.

 

3. Fort Greene/Clinton Hill

Although it is highly gentrified and new businesses open all the time, crime hasn’t left this area. In fact, gentrification does not have an overall crime correlation in many Brooklyn neighborhoods. Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, next on our list of neighborhoods to avoid in Brooklyn; both make up the 88^th precinct. Although the total number of crimes seems to be at a low of 69 so far, two of those crimes are rapes and the population is a mere 51,421 residents. To top it off, the rate of crimes for this neighborhood is 1.3419/1,000 residents; which is also rising, again over the years. Perhaps the Notorious B.IG. had something to do with these neighborhoods infamously dangerous streets. Among the many like him in the history of crime in Brooklyn, his is a well-known face to put to the many shootings that took place on the streets of Clinton Hill where he grew up. It’s neighborhoods like these ones with a history of drug dealers and gangs that bring violence that often makes outsiders view it as a dangerous place.

 

2. East New York

This is a popular neighborhood in which even the locals tend to try to avoid. Although with 183,328 residents calling it home, it’s a rather large neighborhood to try to avoid! Unfortunately, with all these people residing in the 75^th precinct, some of them are the victims of or choosing to commit one of the seven major felony crimes and boosting the large neighborhood’s to 1.4128 crimes/1,000 residents! Over the years, East New York has always seemed to have a bad reputation. Along with many of the 9 neighborhoods to avoid in Brooklyn, it’s always been a town that seems to struggle with poverty, which essentially brings these harsher crimes. And the numbers of these harsh crimes in East New York are pretty high! A whopping 259 crime total in just the past month, alone! Of these crimes, 32 were burglaries, freaking 69 felony assaults, an insane 75 grand larcenies, 20 grand larcenies of motor vehicles, 55 robberies—55!—and a tragic eight rapes! These numbers are enough to scare me out of ever wanting to go there! What’s even scarier is the massacre that took place in East New York back in 1984 where a drug user barged into his dealer’s apartment and ended up killing 10 people! The story doesn’t end there; of those 10 people, eight of them were children and one was the dealer’s girlfriend who was also pregnant! Just goes to show the sorts of crimes these poorer neighborhoods have to endure.

 

1. Dumbo/Boerum Hill/Brooklyn Heights

It’s no secret that this area has some great sites to see. Many locals will tell you that places like Dumbo are the places for tourists to be. The problem is, it’s surrounded by crime! All a part of the 84^th precinct, Dumbo, Boerum Hill and Brooklyn Heights combined have the absolute highest crime rates out of any of these 9 neighborhoods to avoid in Brooklyn. And it’s crazy when you think about how small this area is in comparison with other neighborhoods, yet the rate of crime of 2.2408/1,000 residents is nearly double some of these more populated neighborhoods. Only 48,196 people make up these three bad neighborhoods, which is the least populated neighborhood[s] mentioned. Yikes! With 20 burglaries, 15 felony assaults, 53 grand larcenies, 3 grand larcenies of motor vehicles and 17 robberies, a total of 108 crimes—these numbers fit right in with the crimes committed in the larger neighborhoods. Even compared to this time last year, with a substantially lower crime rate of 1.5769/1,000 residents, THAT number is still higher than any of the neighborhoods listed. Such a shame! Kinda like that fact that a wealthy businessman in 1986 got away with stabbing another man to death in Boerum Hill. Okay, so he didn’t get away with it, but it took over 13 years for his crimes to finally catch up to him. He abruptly took another man’s life, yet still got to live his, since he was a ripe old 73 when he was caught and convicted. Just doesn’t seem fair, does it?