Q. There are 77 police precincts in New York City. How then can there be precincts with numbers 109 (Flushing) and higher? Why don’t the precinct numbers end with 77?

A. “The simple answer as to why precinct numbers go higher than the actual number of precincts is that the numbering system was designed to provide for future expansion,” said Bruno Seliste, a police historian who operates the website PoliceNY.

From 1898, when New York consolidated into its present form, to 1929, the numbers of the combined precincts shifted quite a bit, although the basic allocation of numbers was, Manhattan, one to 39; the Bronx, 40 to 59; Brooklyn, 60 to 99; Queens, 100 to 119; and Staten Island, 120 and up.

Mr. Seliste wrote in an email: “Not all precinct numbers were used in each borough, probably to leave room for new precincts. Although precincts have been added over the years, many have been abolished and merged with neighboring ones.”