BROOKLYN —

America’s oldest outdoor shopping plaza wants to hire private security as an increase in crime and a decrease in police patrols shakes the idyllic center of Victorian Flatbush.

Some stores in historic Newkirk Plaza, atop a subway station serving an average of 10,000 riders on weekdays, have been in the same business for more than a century.

The busy plaza has seen a string of robberies in recent months.

READ MORE