An upscale New York neighborhood rocked by a rise in crime, including daylight carjackings and brazen robberies

The Upper West Side has become a Wild West atmosphere where anything goes, terrified crime victims and neighbors pleading for more police told The Post.

Criminals are more emboldened than ever in the luxury nabe (with robberies soaring more than 30% compared to last year) and car thieves are so brazen that they pointed their guns without concern on consecutive Sundays in broad daylight .

“I’ve never felt as scared in this neighborhood as I do now,” one of the carjacking victims told The Post this week.

The woman, who wished to remain anonymous out of fear for her safety, had just parked her $245,000 2024 Mercedes G Wagon at West 83rd and Broadway on Nov. 17 at 10 a.m. when two men who pulled up next to her in an Acura gray and pointed “large and dark gray” pointing at his chest.

“’Give me your damn bag! Where are the damn keys?’” the men yelled at the woman, 44, who has worked at a nearby hair salon for the past 20 years.

“I was so scared… I was screaming a lot,” she recalled.

Police later found the Mercedes in the Bronx and returned it, according to the woman, who also said thieves had tried unsuccessfully to remove the computer from the dashboard, causing nearly $50,000 in damage.

“I’m not doing very well… every person that walks past me with a mask on, I start shaking. “It’s very scary,” said the still terrified woman.

The car thieves with an almost identical modus operandi struck back a week later.

Jenny Zhou was putting her $100,000 BMW X7 outside her building on Riverside Boulevard on Nov. 24 around noon when the guys pulled up in the same Acura.

When a good Samaritan tried to intervene, the men pointed a gun again, he said.

“I was in shock, I was very scared,” Zhou, 57, told the Post of Sunday’s ordeal. “I would never expect this to happen in such a wonderful residential area.”

Zhou’s car has not been found and no arrests have been made in either case. Police are investigating the possibility that the perpetrators are the same in both incidents.

Car thieves and other brazen criminals are “emboldened by the lack of prosecution for anything in New York City,” said a veteran NYPD detective.

“They also do it in broad daylight, so they don’t even care who is around. (Manhattan District Attorney Alvin) Bragg is going to have to step up and do something,” the detective added.

So far this year, the NYPD’s 20th District, which covers the neighborhood up to West 86th Street, has seen 31% more robberies, 14% more serious assaults, 31% more robberies and 6% more grand thefts compared to the same time period. 2023. Overall, serious crimes have increased 6%, data shows.

And the recent and random violence… An 81-year-old woman was punched while walking down West 66th Street and a 55-year-old man Danish tourist stabbed at random on West 86th Street, has nervous neighbors.

So much so that many in the famous liberal neighborhood (which supposedly donated the most money to Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign In all five boroughs, they are imploring the NYPD to do more law enforcement.

“I think people think they’re careful and maybe don’t go out much after dark, but that’s no guarantee that something won’t happen to you in the middle of the day, light or not. without a gun,” said Katina Ellison, a 50-year UWS resident and co-founder of the West 71st Street Block Association.

Block association created 10-point proposal to reduce crime after gunshots were heard 6:30 pm on October 31 at West 71st Street and Broadway, injuring two teenagers. More police officers top their list.

“We definitely need more foot police on an ongoing basis, spread out over a larger portion of the area,” Ellison explained.

Dad, 51, had just returned to his West 71st Street apartment after trick-or-treating with his five-year-old daughter when the shots were fired.

“I don’t understand, why are there no police here?” Dad said. “It’s discouraging.”