Deputy Inspector John Cappelman. (Photo: Mary Reinholz)

Deputy Inspector John Cappelmann. (Photo: Mary Reinholz)

Crime in all its myriad forms (including debit card scams, bike and cellphone thefts and old-fashioned purse snatchings) has increased over the last 28 days in the East Village — when, that is, such dastardly deeds are compared to minuscule crime rates in the immediate wake of superstorm Sandy.

Addressing a packed monthly Community Council meeting last night at the precinct’s East Fifth Street station house, Deputy Inspector John Cappelmann, the precinct’s commanding officer, said felonies like grand larceny were up 15 percent compared to the same period last year, and burglary rates were higher. One apparent perp, he said, left his tennis shoes in one of the East 14th Street apartments he burgled (“We got his DNA”) and then entered another unit in new boots only to fall from a window and wind up seriously injured at Bellevue.

Cappelmann, however, made it plain that the current stats were flawed because crime had “dramatically decreased with the onset of Hurricane Sandy” last October, thanks to a massive police presence in downtown Manhattan.

Otherwise, he noted two recent shootings, one on Oct. 23 off of Avenue D with the alleged perp now in lockup. In contrast, police from both the Ninth and Seventh precincts are still looking for the person who shot a 16-year-old youth in the leg on East Houston Street. The victim was  uncooperative with police and had “a big history of (arrests) for robberies and we had concern about retaliation,” Cappelmann said.

B+B asked Lieutenant Patrick Ferguson, a veteran of the precinct, to offer his views on Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who is expected to leave the department when mayor–elect Bill de Blasio takes office in January. “He’s a good man,” Ferguson replied. “I like Ray Kelly. He does a great job.”

Does the lieutenant expect crime to rise during the transition with a new top cop?

“Only time will tell,” he said.