The NYPD quietly booted the commanding officer of its crime-plagued Central Park precinct this month, as burglaries, felony assaults and rapes surge in the iconic green space.
“Effective today I have been designated the commanding officer of the 23 Precinct,” Capt. Anthony Lavino wrote in an email to community members, announcing his transfer to East Harlem.
“Thank you for being supportive of my efforts to improve the safety and security in Central Park,” Lavino added.
He’s being replaced by Capt. Timothy Magliente, who has been in Chelsea’s 10th Precinct since 2022.
In Central Park, robbery has more than doubled, to 37 incidents so far in 2024 from 18 at this point last year — already 61% more than all of 2023, NYPD data showed. It’s the highest since 1998, when there were 80 park robberies.
There have also been 11 felony assaults so far this year compared to eight in the same period in 2023, a 38% increase.
Rape went from two to three this year.
In a shocking early morning attack on Oct. 26, a man brutally beat and attempted to rape a 38-year-old woman near 85 East Drive in the northern end of the park, the NYPD said, releasing a photo of the bicycle-riding sicko.
The assailant approached and “pushed the victim over a metal fence, punched her in the face multiple times, and attempted to rape her,” police said. They are still hunting for him.
Increasing crime in the once-peaceful space is “scary,” parkgoers told The Post.
“When I first moved here, all I was thinking about was going to the park but then the sun-tanning incident happened,” Seattle native and NYU student Harlowe Brumett-Dunn said, referring to a June sexual attack by a homeless maniac on a 21-year-old sunbather.
“You would think in these public places, in daylight, those things wouldn’t happen,” the 22-year-old continued. “So that was a reality check for me.”
She wondered if a new commander in the precinct was the solution.
“My question is, what’s the plan?” she said. “They think a different CO is going to have a better plan, better goals for crime, or what? I don’t know if that’s really the solution we’re looking for.”
After the sunbather attack, police officials rolled out a plan they said would put more eyes on the park, including cameras.
The NYPD needs to do more than move deck chairs around, said City Councilwoman and former Manhattan beep Gale Brewer.
“I don’t think it’s just leadership — you need actual police,” Brewer said.
“He was always asking for more staff and cameras,” she said of Lavino, noting it was unclear whether he managed to get the additional police officers.
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