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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