Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Wednesday praised the city’s police and fire departments for making 2011 one of the city’s safest years ever.
The mayor says overall crime is down again and the city recorded the second fewest fire deaths on record.
He says the city is on pace to record a little more than 500 murders this year, the third lowest in history.
That marks 10 straight years the city has seen fewer than 600 homicides.
The mayor says there was an increase in sexual assaults but attributes that to more victims coming forward, rather than an increase in incidents.
Fire officials say improvements in technology led to faster response times for fires, helping to drive down fire deaths.
The mayor says despite a tough fiscal situation, both the NYPD and FDNY passed the year with flying colors.
“Even working under tight budget constrains, our finest and bravest have once again kept New York as our nation’s safest big city,” Bloomberg said.
“I think the decline in murders is the best indicators of just how safe this city has become,” said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.
“We’re saving more lives by preventing more fires from occurring. And when the fires do start, we’re getting there faster than before. And once on the scene, we’re doing a more effective job of preserving life and property,” said Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano.
The mayor credits the success of the police and fire departments for the city’s growing population and surging tourism numbers.
(Source: NY1)
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2 Responses
Crime rates are going down everywhere in the US, regardless of level of police activity. This suggests that crime is not a function of unemployment or poverty, but perhaps of family structure (and unemployed parents watch kids more than employed ones?). Some have suggested that the increase in abortions which started a generation ago resulted in fewer juvenile and young adult offenders (and these being the typical ages of criminals). Rising prison populations seems to be a factor (while many harmless people are unnecessarily incarcerated, it does appear the are getting a higher percentage of the dangerous ones locked up).
The stats are impressive and I have no doubt that the Mayor or NYPD wants to see a reduction in crime. On the flip side, if you were the victim of one of the reported or non reported crimes the lower stats are of little comfort.