Nine police precincts are showing an alarming spike in crime -- and could lead the way to the first citywide increase in decades, The Post has learned.
Overall crime is down a barely noticeable 0.1 percent so far this year compared to the same period last year, and police brass are fighting tooth and nail to keep the numbers from climbing.
"No matter if it's a slight uptick, no police commissioner or mayor wants it on their watch," said Eli Silverman, co-author of the forthcoming book, "The Crime Numbers Game: Management by Manipulation."
The NYPD has already removed Deputy Inspector José Navarro as commander of the 34th Precinct, in Washington Heights, where crime shot up during his 15 months in charge.
The 90th Precinct, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is also struggling with increases in murder, rape, assault, grand larceny and car theft, according to NYPD CompStat data.
"I got mugged on Grand Avenue about six months ago," said waiter Paul Lin, 44, of Williamsburg.
"He put a gun to the back of my head . . . What I don't understand is why during the day there are, like, a hundred cops on Grand Avenue but at night there aren't any."
There have been 15 rapes this year in that precinct, compared to four as of mid-August last year.
Other precincts struggling with rising crime include: the 42nd, in Tremont, The Bronx; the 66th, in Borough Park, the neighborhood in which young Leiby Kletzky was allegedly abducted by Levi Aron, Brooklyn; the 61st, in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn; the 76th, in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn; the 77th, in Crown Heights, Brooklyn; the 100th in Rockaway, Queens, and the 113th in St. Albans, Queens.
NYPD Department Chief Joseph Esposito and Deputy Commissioner Patrick Timlin have launched a get-tough policy with precinct commanders to demand they get crime under control.
If for the first time since 1993 crime does rise, observers say, most New Yorkers will still take it stride.
"There has to be discernible decline in the quality of the [public's] life," said Doug Muzzio, a Baruch College political-science professor.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said crime was down citywide and in 43 of the 76 police precincts.
Where it has increased, borough and precinct commanders strategize to anticipate trends.
A focus on shootings has resulted in major reductions citywide -- 67 fewer this year, compared to last year at this time.
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