Jerry Drake, a member of Community Board 5 and a Maspeth resident, said he’s been seeing a recent increase in crime in his neighborhood.

“I’m very concerned with the apparent increase in crime and the number of complaints I’m receiving as a community board member,” he said in a Friday interview.

Drake cited multiple instances of burglary. He said his neighbor’s car was broken into twice in the last few months. He also said another neighbor was assaulted after confronting two crooks in her garage. Drake said the unnamed neighbor ended up in the hospital with a swollen face.

“There have been a total of seven cars broken into all in this neighborhood, which is very unusual because there are mostly commercial buildings around here,” he said.

His own car was broken into very recently. He said he keeps a pillow in his car for his bad back, but when he entered his car, the pillow was gone.

“I knew somebody had been in the car,” Drake said.

He also saw his glove compartment open with papers scattered across the floor.

Drake, a teacher in the Department of Education for more than 30 years, also spoke about a homeless man who was terrorizing girls in the neighborhood. He said the man would expose himself to women in a laundromat and at the grocery store.

“It’s the level of society going down,” Drake said.

He said he will speak about the issue at the next community board meeting on March 9 at Christ the King High School in Middle Village.

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