Deputy Inspector John Cappelmann, commanding officer of the 103rd Precinct, discusses crime trends in Jamaica. View Full Caption DNAinfo.com/Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska

QUEENS — Residents of Jamaica — which has historically struggled with gangs, gun violence and drugs — can now feel safer in their neighborhood as the number of shootings and murders in the area declined to a record low, police officials said.

This year, there have been nine shootings and two homicides in the 103rd Precinct, which covers Jamaica, Hollis and Lakewood, authorities said.

That's a decrease of more than 30 and 71 percent, respectively, compared to the same period last year, when there were 13 shootings and 7 murders in the precinct, according to statistics provided by the NYPD.

“We’ve never had a lower number of shootings or homicides,” said Deputy Inspector John Cappelmann, commanding officer of the 103rd Precinct, at a community council meeting Tuesday night.

“In 2013 at this time we had 30 people shot and in 2012 — 45,” Cappelmann said. “We’ve made remarkable strides.”

The first murder this year took place in April, when a 39-year-old man was stabbed to death during a fight outside of a Jamaica Avenue restaurant.

The second homicide occurred in August, after two men shot a victim while trying to steal his necklace.

Cappelmann said that in order to curb crime, the precinct came up with a map of locations where shootings occurred over the past 5 years and analyzed who fired the shots in each incident and why.

After investigators identified seven most violence-prone locations in the precinct, additional patrols were placed there each weekend during summer months, Cappelmann said.

Additionally, the precinct also focused its attention on those people who repeatedly commit violent crimes.

The strategy resulted in a number of arrests, Cappelmann said.

Several drug dealers have also been arrested after the precinct obtained search warrants, Cappelmann said.

Overall crime in the precinct is down nearly six percent compared to the same period last year, according to statistics for the period ending Aug. 30.

Three crime categories went up, including robberies, which have increased by nearly eight percent, from 241 last year to 260 this year, and felony assaults, which rose by nearly four percent to 293 this year, from 282 last year.

There have been 13 rapes this year in the 103rd Precinct, about eight percent more than last year, when there were 12 rapes.