MURDERS ON THE RISE
Homicide rates going up amid increased gang violence: NYPD
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Kensington cartoonist John Patrick Green will give a drawing demonstration at the Brooklyn Museum’s Children’s Book Fair on Nov. 23. Photo by Kevin Duggan
Kitten around
Kensington cartoonist brings his tail of kitties to book fair
TBy Kevin Duggan hey’re clawing their
way to the top!
A Kensington
author and illustrator will
show off his drawing
skills and his comic books
about adorable animals at
the Brooklyn Children’s
Book Fair, happening at
the Brooklyn Museum
on Nov. 23. John Patrick
Green will host the final
event of the book festival,
demonstrating how he draws
the characters in his book
series “Kitten Construction
Company” — a group of
kitty construction workers
who get no respect from
their human counterparts
because they are just too
cute, the author said.
“These kittens want this
job, but no one will take
them seriously because
they’re so adorable,” Green
said.
The felines’ struggle to
be taken seriously resonates
with children who struggle
to be taken seriously, as
well as with adults who
face patronizing or sexist
adversity in the workplace
— a sort of #meowtoo
moment.
“A child might feel
like ‘I’ve legitimately
accomplished a thing,’ and
the only response they’ll get
from an adult or a teacher,
is, ‘Oh you’re so adorable,
how precious,’ ” he said.
“For adults — and I was
completely conscious of
this — it’s a metaphor for
sexism in the workplace.”
The second book in
the Kitten Construction
Company series, subtitled
“A Bridge Too Fur,” debuted
in October, and features
the industrious fur balls
teaming up with a company
of canine constructors.
At the festival, which
will feature about 40 kids’
book creators, Green will
sell and sign copies of both
books in the series, as well
as an earlier book about
another animal performing
human jobs. His 2016 book
“Hippopotamister,” follows
a hippopotamus that flees
the zoo and tries to live
among humans by trying
out different jobs, including
a construction worker, a
hair stylist, and a sous chef.
Early next year, Green
plans to fur-ther expand
his empire of employed
animal books with the
comic “InvestiGators,”
about crime-fighting, vestwearing
alligators. He has
plans to create several
sequels to the InvestiGators
book, and for a follow up
to “Hippopotamister” in the
coming years.
Green, who has been
drawing comics since he
was a child, says that he
loves having the opportunity
to amuse people with his
drawings.
“I get to just sit at home
and draw comics and think
of things that make me
laugh — and if I’m lucky,
other people will laugh at
me too,” he said.
John Patrick Green at
the Brooklyn Children’s
Book Fair at the Brooklyn
Museum 200 Eastern
Pkwy. at Washington
Avenue in Prospect Heights,
(718) 638–5000, www.
brooklynmuseum.org. Nov.
23, 11:30 am–4 pm. Free.
Green has written a two-book series about kittens that run their
own construction company. John Patrick Green, color by Cat Caro
Your entertainment
guide Page 49
Police Blotter ..........................8
Wellness .................................. 41
Letters ....................................38
HOW TO REACH US
COURIER LIFE, N 2 OVEMBER 15-21, 2019
BY TODD MAISEL
New York City has already
suffered 267 murders this year
— and is on track to top 300 before
the year is out.
Police offi cials, led by outgoing
Commissioner James
O’Neill, and Mayor Bill de
Blasio presented the numbers
during the latest Compstat report
in Brooklyn on Wednesday.
Chief of Detectives Dermot
Shea — who will take over for
O’Neill at the end of the month
— found himself in the hot
seat because his offi ce is investigating
several major homicides,
including the fatal
shooting of 14-year-old Aamir
Griffi n on a basketball court
in October.
Shea pointed out that of the
29 murders this past month,
eight were part of two separate
incidents, including four
found dead at a Utica Avenue
gambling hall in Crown
Heights on Oct. 12 and the
other four in gang related violence
in the Bronx. He attributed
the increase in homicides
to rising gang and narcotics
violence.
Shootings were also up
4.7 percent, from 597 during
the same period in 2018 to 625
shootings this year. Of those
shootings, there was a 13.1
percent spike in crime in NYCHA
housing. Most notable
was the shooting at the Old
Timers Day event in Brownsville
in which 12 people were
shot and one was killed.
“It’s a small percentage of
the population that is responsible
for these crimes,” Shea
said. “The uptick in shootings
is related to narcotics and
gang related violence and we
are addressing it.”
Several shootings, including
one in which a teen girl
was shot in the shoulder,
“seem to all be related to gang
disputes and it is the same individuals
involved,” according
to Shea.
He indicated that arrests
Chief of Detectives Dermott Shea discusses the rise in murders alongside Mayor Bill de Blasio and Commissioner
James O’Neill. Photo by Todd Maisel
for homicides were also up
and they were making progress
in their investigations,
though the Griffi n murder is
said to be diffi cult as the video
evidence is “murky at best.”
“There are only a few people
who are committing most
of these shootings an they are
the most violent,” Shea conceded.
Chief of Crime Control
Strategies Lori Pollack, however,
said police brass are optimistic
that the department
can keep homicides under 300
for the year, however. There
were 259 reported murders in
all of 2018.
De Blasio said he believes
that the city is “substantially
safer and stronger” and there
are some people who have
“unfairly portrayed the city
differently.”
Only two weeks ago, Governor
Andrew Cuomo claimed
that subway crime had “dramatically
increased,” a
charge which O’Neill refuted.
President Donald Trump also
has bashed New York City as
“crime ridden.”
In addition to the increase
in murders, offi cials noted
that car thefts have also increased.
Chief Shea said the
increase can be attributed to
people “leaving their keys in
the ignition and running, or
having the fob to close to the
car for thieves to take advantage.”
This past month, a car was
snatched in Canarsie with a
6-year-old boy still strapped in
his car seat. The car was later
recovered off Linden Boulevard,
having been abandoned
by the thief and the boy was
unharmed.
“In the 1980s and 90s, you
would never leave your car
unattended while running, especially
not with a child in the
car,” de Blasio said.
O’Neill, who will be leaving
to join Visa as a senior
vice president in the fraud
division, said one of the answers
to crime is having more
community centers where the
youth can be safe.
“There needs to be more
positive places to go for youth,
places to exercise, do homework
in a safe place,” O’Neill
said. “Not to have nothing to
do and then do the things that
get them in trouble. This center
belongs to you and you can
depend on it.”
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