An Upper East Side AT&T store has become the latest target of burglars striking late at night, smashing their way inside and cleaning out local businesses in an overnight crime surge, that has the NYPD adjusting their tactics in response to the growing threat of overnight break-ins.
“The thing about the burglaries is that it is a crime that’s very serious, but it’s also a crime that very few people see,” says Deputy Inspector Bill Gallagher, the new commanding officer of the NYPD’s 19th Precinct, serving the Upper East Side.
Investigators say it was just after 4:00 am last Sunday morning when officers received a 911 call about a burglary in progress at the AT&T store, located at 200 East 86th Street, at the corner of Third Avenue.
The burglar had broken into the cell phone store in the cover of darkness, swiping merchandise and disappearing back into the night, which police say is part of a growing crime wave facing businesses here on the Upper East Side.
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Since the start of the new year, burglaries have surged on the Upper East Side — spiking 20% compared to the same period last year, according to crime-reporting NYPD data.
“They see your business, sometimes it’s a pizzeria, but generally it’s a restaurant, they take some kind of rock, brick or baseball bat, they smash the window — they go in and they steal, they commit a burglary,” said Deputy Inspector Gallagher.
“This crime usually happens in the middle of the night, when everybody’s asleep,” Gallagher explained to Upper East Side residents during the 19th Precinct’s Community Council meeting on Tuesday — where police and the public discuss concerns in the neighborhood.
Upper East Site reviewed the NYPD data and found that Wednesdays and Thursdays have accounted for nearly half of the 72 burglaries reported on the Upper East Side in 2023 — apparently the prime days for thieves to strike.
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“One of the things that the police department does when they have a trend like this, is we transfer police officers,” Deputy Inspector Gallagher told concerned neighbors, “We move police officers from the daytime to the middle of the night to combat this.”
Gallagher says he’s moved a significant number of officers to overnight shifts to tamp down the escalating pace of these break-ins.
The suspect wanted in Sunday’s AT&T store burglary is described by police as a man standing 5’2” tall, weighing approximately 145 pounds, last seen wearing dark-colored clothes.
“Anybody that gets caught doing this, we go right to the District Attorney's office, we ask for the highest bail possible,” Gallagher promised.
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“I want you to know that this precinct takes crimes against your business extremely seriously.”
If you witnessed the Upper East Side AT&T store burglary or have any information that could help investigators, you’re asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-8477.
