As the manager of the high-end boutique Slope Jeans on Garfield Place in Park Slope, Stoykova caters to clientele with cash to spend, people who don’t flinch dropping $200 on a pair of jeans.

Slope Jeans was targeted by an armed robber on Nov. 12. Photo: Lauren Sausser

But that peaceful scene was shattered when Stoykova, working at the store on Nov. 12, was targeted by a gunman.

“He pretended to be a customer,” Stoykova said. “He said not to press any buttons or try something clever.”

She opened the cash register and handed over the merchandise he demanded.

The man, wearing a green jacket and a hat, took off with $200 and more than $1,500 of clothes, including several pairs of designer jeans and a leather jacket.

“I was terrified after he left. While he was in here I wasn’t really thinking, I just wanted him to get out,” she said. “The detectives come in almost every day with pictures. They are still trying to find him.”

***

By most accounts, Park Slope is a safe neighborhood. Its statistics show that it is the second-safest precinct in Brooklyn, the borough with the second-highest crime rate in the city. But a rash of armed robberies in the past month has set off shock waves in the community, making local store owners fearful that their businesses may be targeted next.

Mitch Spizek, president of the Park Slope Chamber of Commerce and owner of Little Things toy store, remained calm amid chaos as technicians worked to install security cameras and phone lines throughout the shop before Thanksgiving. Pre-holiday customers flooded the small store on Seventh Avenue, possibly portending strong December sales.

Spizek, a retired lieutenant of the New York Police Department, is keenly aware that desperate economic times can drive would-be thieves to take desperate measures. Before Thanksgiving, he organized a meeting with an officer from the 78th Precinct to offer tips to local business owners on how to better protect themselves from crime.

“Incidents are going to happen wherever you are. If you live in a city, something can happen. What we’re trying do is share information,” said Spizek, who decided to install the cameras after three armed robberies occurred in Park Slope within one month, including the robbery at Slope Jeans. “It’s something that I wanted to do anyway and this just solidified the fact that I wanted safety and security and I wanted to nip that in the bud.”

Luckily for Stoykova, Slope Jeans had security cameras installed before the robbery. Police have not arrested a suspect, but have a clear image of the man they are searching for.

In an unrelated case, police arrested a suspect in the armed robbery of the McDonald’s on Fourth Avenue in Park Slope on Oct. 13. In that incident, police said Neb Morrow, wielding a .380-caliber handgun, entered the restaurant and demanded money.

After fleeing the premises, police wrestled Morrow, 41, to the pavement. The gun and $1,500 in stolen cash were confiscated.

Franchise owners declined to comment on the case. The manager of that location, who identified himself as Widnil, said, “It’s something that we dealt with and now we want to move on.”

A third man, who demanded cash at gun point at a Game Stop in Park Slope in early November, is still on the loose.

***

New York City is an extremely safe place to live, insists Eugene O’Donnell, a professor at the John Jay College of Media, Crime and Justice. In fact, he said it’s safer than many other smaller cities around the country.

“It’s not clear why crime has improved and nobody really knows for sure. It has something to do with better policing strategies, but that’s just part of it. More cops make the city safer, but now the department is shrinking and the city is still getting safer,” said O’Donnell, a former New York City policeman.

Gentrification has played a huge factor in reducing pockets of crime across the five boroughs, he said.

“There are higher real estate values and less people with lower incomes, and this is definitely connected to the crime being reduced. There used to be no-go areas that now have million-dollar condos,” he said. “New York City is palpably safe and it’s reflected in neighborhoods I go into where people wouldn’t have been on the street 20 years ago. You can’t even fathom how safe it is.”

Officers from the 78th Precinct and representatives from the Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Public Safety declined to comment for this article.

***

In light of the recent armed robberies, it is clear Park Slope is not crime free.. On Christmas Eve 2007, Park Slope resident and writer Douglas Rushkoff was mugged at knifepoint outside his brownstone. Before calling the police, both he and his wife, Barbara, blogged about the incident online.

“The deep, dark secret about Park Slope is that there’s tons of crime here,” Barbara Rushkoff wrote on her blog, “A Girl Grows in Brooklyn.” “According to the detectives … Manhattan is safe, but Brooklyn is decidedly not.”

The post set off a maelstrom of controversy from Park Slope residents who were concerned their property values would decrease and from residents throughout New York whose neighborhoods are much less safe.

Douglas Rushkoff, who included a description of the incident and the ensuing media frenzy that followed in his book, “Life Inc.,” published earlier this year, declined to be interviewed on the subject, but wrote in an e-mail message, “The mugging was more about gentrification and the neighbors’ reaction to bad publicity. I don’t have good data on crime in Park Slope, and don’t trust the data that is out there.”

But Louise Crawford, author of the hyper-local Park Slope blog “Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn,” agreed with both former police officers Spizek and O’Donnell that the crime statistics released by the local precinct appear accurate.

“They were just being honest,” Crawford said of the Rushkoffs. “It was a trauma. It was not a very pleasant experience and they got criticized for dissing the neighborhood and there were a lot comments. Invariably, in the age of blogging and commenting, anything you say someone is going to jump on your back.”

Park Slope is a relatively safe place to live, she said, but it is still part of the largest borough in the largest city in the country.

“I don’t feel particularly safe on any street in any city when it’s dark,” she said. “This is Brooklyn. It’s New York City. In Park Slope, we feel safer because there are always a lot of people out and about and that’s always gong to create the feeling of safety in numbers. But as a New Yorker, I tend to be very, very confident when I walk down the street. I’m very wary and very alert.”

But Sean O’Brien, assistant manager of Video Forum on Seventh Avenue, has no qualms about walking 20 minutes from Park Slope to his apartment in Crown Heights every night.

“I’ve never felt threatened here or run into anyone that made me feel nervous,” O’Brien said. “I know there are a lot of families here but there are also just a lot of people who have been here forever. It’s way more like a community then some of the other neighborhoods. I think that makes it feel safer.”

Marc Garstein, president of Warren Lewis Realty in Park Slope, is a longtime resident of the community. He said people move to the neighborhood because it has a reputation as being safe and family-friendly.

“We live in a big city and I think it’s relatively safe here,” Garstein said. “I have no idea if the statistics are accurate or not but back in the 70s it was a lot less safe. You wouldn’t go anywhere near Prospect Park unless you could get out by dark. Now, it’s just too expensive for there to be that much crime.”

The 6th Police Pct.

Community Board 2

Greenwich Village Block Associations

Deputy Inspector Andrew Capul wasn’t having an easy night. At the May general meeting of the 34th Precinct Community Council, Inwood residents were demanding action in response to the uptick in muggings in their neighborhood. One resident asked Capul, the head of the precinct, whether he and his neighbors should carry weapons to protect themselves.

At the Aug. 4 National Night Out in Washington Heights, Deputy Inspector Andrew Capul of the 34th Precinct accepts a proclamation from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in recognition of the 83 percent drop in the precinct’s murder rate since 2001. Photo: Jennifer A. DePreist.

Robberies were on the rise in Inwood and Washington Heights, conceded Capul, though crime was down overall. There had been about 11 more robberies year to date than there had been during that same period in 2008, Capul said.

Inwood residents have long argued that the 34th Precinct is too large, and that a northern precinct would establish a palpable police presence. There isn’t money for a new precinct, so some Inwood residents want to police their neighborhood themselves.

A neighborhood patrol isn’t a new idea. Residents banded together as the Inwood Patrol and patrolled in groups of two or three from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. Thursdays through Sundays on and off for almost 20 years.

Patrols were on foot and then in later years in two vehicles equipped with flashing lights, with “Inwood Patrol” lettered on the sides. At its height about five years ago, the patrol had about 100 active participants.

But the Inwood Patrol, which began as a self-described vigilante group and was later endorsed by the precinct, was disbanded last year following internal turf wars, personality conflicts and dwindling participation.

The city’s uniformed volunteer auxiliary program isn’t the kind of grassroots group Inwood residents seek. Auxiliary participants don’t choose assignments, and they must complete a 16-week training, pass written and physical exams, submit to a background investigation and drug and alcohol screening and adhere to minimum hours requirements.

Many Inwood residents, most of whom weren’t part of the old Inwood Patrol, have pressed the precinct this summer to restart the group, and neighborhood blog posts query why it isn’t active.

“The issue was never the program,” said 34th Precinct Community Affairs Officer Tony Trinidad. “It was with the people.”

At the June community council meeting Capul said, “If utilized properly, the Inwood Patrol could be an outstanding resource.”

But what can a neighborhood patrol of unarmed citizens do? And in an increasingly fragmented community, where the dense traffic on Broadway separates residents not just physically, but also along the lines of ethnicity, class, and language, how can neighbors protect each other when they don’t even know each other?

The 1989 killing of Israel Ortiz in his grocery store on West 218th Street shocked some residents into action.

Michael Hughes, 53, was a member of the Inwood Patrol in those early days and was its leader when it was disbanded. “You’re sick and tired of being a victim, and you’ve got to take a stand,” he said recently.

The crack epidemic had erupted in New York in the mid-1980s, and the 34th Precinct, with its bridges, highways, and regional bus station, became a hub for crack distribution and the murder capital of the city.

But crime has decreased significantly since then. There were 103 murders in the area covered by the precinct in 1990 and seven murders in 2001, according to New York Police Department CompStat figures. Last year, there were three murders.

There were 1,919 robberies within the precinct’s borders in 1990 and 316 robberies in 2001. Last year, there were 270 robberies. Even though the precinct covers a smaller area than it did in 1990, crime has decreased significantly.

Longtime residents agree that Inwood is significantly safer now. But many new arrivals don’t know Inwood’s bloody history. “Those people who say crime is on the rise don’t know what they’re talking about,” said Charles Allen, 58.

“I suspect many of them are from downtown. I’ve been here since the 70s,” said Allen, a wine wholesaler who lives on Academy Street.

Yet many Inwood residents say they feel vulnerable.

Karen Jolicoeur, 40, a classical singer, laments “the basic degradation of quality of life.” She said, “The chaos invites crime.” Jolicoeur’s husband was assaulted with a stun gun in Inwood Hill Park in May.

“This thing that happened to my husband was brazen,” she said. “It was 3 p.m. the Sunday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend.”

Courtney Turay, 38, just moved her family back to Lexington, Ky., after 10 years on Arden Street. “Crime definitely played into our decision,” she said by telephone. “It’s a general perception that the lawlessness was increasing in our neighborhood and less was being done.”

Turay said she didn’t feel safe walking on her own street.

Edward Briggs, 66, a retired mannequin designer who lives on Payson Avenue said recently, “I’m reluctant to walk through the park at any hour.”

Many residents welcome the idea of a neighborhood patrol.

“That would be great,” enthused Angela Pen, 29. Pen moved to Inwood from Pennsylvania six months ago and worries about walking her dog after dark.

“Sounds great to me,” said Patricia Taylor, 46, a television producer and 15-year Inwood resident. Taylor said she has noticed an increase in drug activity.

Some elected officials also support a new Inwood Patrol.

“I think a civilian patrol is a good thing,” said Democratic State Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat, who represents eastern Inwood. “We’re working with the precinct now to see how we can get something back up and running that’s good for the community.”

Espaillat, Democratic State Assemblyman Herman D. Farrell Jr. and Democratic City Councilman Robert Jackson all secured taxpayer funds for the old Inwood Patrol.

But Espaillat said a new patrol should operate differently than the old one, whose members mostly patrolled the predominately white area west of Broadway. “I think that there should be not only diversity, but that the Inwood Patrol should be from east to west,” said Espaillat. “It should cross Broadway, building bridges.”

Maureen Rocks, 59, a 20-year Inwood resident, was a longtime member of the Inwood Patrol. “The Spanish didn’t seem to participate much at all,” said Rocks. Referring to the west side, she added, “It was basically this side of Broadway. I still don’t understand why. We tried to reach out to everybody.”

Hughes acknowledges that patrol members weren’t able to coordinate with the mostly Dominican residents east of Broadway. “Of course you’re going to find people who say that racism was involved,” he said.

Manny Velazquez, Community Board 12 chair, emphasized the need for inclusion. “If the Inwood Patrol was to get reactivated, or if another organization was to come out, it’s very important that it’s inclusive to the entire neighborhood and that all parts of Northern Manhattan really are included in that process.”

Hughes doesn’t doubt the patrol’s effectiveness despite its lack of diversity and geographic scope. “We were bringing crime down, working with the cops, talking to people in the streets who would talk to me but wouldn’t talk to the police,” Hughes said. “We were the foot soldiers on the front, dealing with things.”

Some Inwood residents aren’t as enthusiastic about civilian patrols. Briggs, the retired mannequin designer, said, “I think some of these people that hang around here are carrying. Who wants to put themselves in a position to be filled with bullets?”

Jolicoeur agrees. “Do we need private citizens putting themselves in harm’s way to do the police’s job? I don’t think so.”

Briggs expressed concern about potential volunteers. “What’s their agenda? What’s their motivation? You worry a little about people like that,” he said. “Some of these men have some rage issues, possibly racial issues,” said Briggs.

Rocks confirmed Brigg’s concerns: “As far as I know, a couple of them did have altercations with people. But we weren’t supposed to do that.”

James Johnson didn’t think highly of the old Inwood Patrol. “Those people would treat you like a criminal because you’re outside,” said Johnson, 28, who grew up in Inwood.

Johnson expressed an additional concern: that self-isolation, particularly by newer residents west of Broadway, breeds suspicion. “If they would actually come outside, they would know their neighbors,” he said while relaxing in the park with a multiracial group of friends after work.

“When I was coming up, everyone knew everyone. Everyone played together.” Johnson said he didn’t think his current neighbors are interested in really knowing each other. “They want to be isolated.”

Sean Ledden, 48, a television producer and 19-year Inwood resident, said some of his neighbors seem fearful even of each other.

“I’d like to see less hysteria,” he said. “Get active. It’s important. But stay calm.” Ledden added, “How can you build community when you’re like a pit bull protecting your little nest egg?”

Velazquez, who is running for City Council, called for a greater sense of common purpose. “Safety is for everybody. A life is a life, a child is a child, a grandparent is a grandparent,” he said. “A human being is a human being, no matter where they live, and we have to make sure that if we do activate those groups again, that we’re reaching out to everybody and protecting everybody in the neighborhood.”