FEWEST MURDERS SINCE RECORDS HAVE BEEN KEPT: Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly today announced that crime in New York City fell again in 2007, marking the seventeenth straight year in which major felony crime has declined. Included in the five borough crime reduction is a 13 percent decrease in crime in the subway system, despite record ridership. The City is also on course to have fewer than 500 homicides in 2007, surpassing all records for which there is comparable information. Included in the murder decline for 2007 was another record: a 36 percent decrease in domestic violence murders. The decrease coincided with an intensive, five-year effort the New York City Police Department (NYPD) has undertaken to prevent domestic violence. The announcement took place in Harlem’s 28th Precinct, where major felony crime fell 21 percent this year compared to last year. The Mayor and the Police Commissioner were joined at the announcement by 28th Precinct Commanding Officer Deputy Inspector Dwayne Montgomery and community members who have seen the improved conditions in the 28th Precinct firsthand.
“When I came into office, many believed it was impossible to drive crime, particularly murders, down any further,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “Yet, beginning in 2002, crime declined steadily and murders fell below 600 annually for the first time in 40 years. That happened again in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. Now, in 2007, we have reached another milestone, murders could potentially fall below 500 – and that includes a decrease in random murders where victims don’t know the perpetrators.”
“The new record low number of murders is truly a remarkable accomplishment for which the men and women of the Police Department should be justifiably proud,” said Commissioner Kelly said. “But it’s not about breaking records or crime suppression alone, it is all about saving lives. That’s something we can all celebrate on New Year’s Eve and then immediately resolve to keep up the good work in 2008.”
Among Decreases Across Every Crime Category, Murders and Transit Crime Stand Out
As the year comes to an end, major felony crime declined over 6 percent citywide compared to the same period in 2006. Since 2001, overall major felony crime has decreased 26 percent. Part of that reduction is a significant decrease in crime in the subway system, in 2007 crime fell 13 percent below the record low numbers recorded in 2006. In 1990, there was an average of 48 major crimes per day in the transit system while today there is an average of only six. This decrease comes as average weekday subway ridership in October was 5.3 million, an increase of 4.7 percent from October 2006 and the highest weekday ridership of any month in over thirty-five years.
The City is expected to fall below 500 homicides this year, the lowest level for any year for which records are available. The last year for which comparable information on homicide is available is 1963 when there were 548 homicides. Very few victims of homicides were strangers to their perpetrators or were killed in random attacks. Also, there was an impressive decline in domestic violence homicides that coincides with a five-year effort by the Police Department to reduce domestic violence. Specially trained detectives have engaged in proactive domestic violence prevention, doubling their visits to households where domestic violence had occurred. The trips to homes runs counter to the academic belief that little could be done to reduce domestic-related murders. The Police Department has assigned domestic violence officers to every precinct in the City, in some precincts, there are as many as ten domestic violence officers assigned. These specially trained officers made 76,000 domestic violence follow-up visits last year; compared to 38,000 in 2002. In that time, domestic violence-related murders have fallen by nearly half.
(Photo Credit: Spencer T Tucker)
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5 Responses
Why don’t they skip over to Lakewood, NJ and clean up there
FAKER Bloomy’s statistics don’t seem to jive with the news, reporting violent crimes one after another on a daily basis. As a Jew, I feel LESS safe in NYC than during Giuliani’s reign, particularly because of the hate crimes that just seem to be very much on the rise.
Let’s not forget that this wonderful Mayor is against capital punishment, and it shows itself in the increase in violent crimes.
P.S. This Mayor should definitely be credited with a sharp decrease in “parking meter” crimes.
Thanx much to NYPD. G-d bless you.
Sounds impressive unless you are one of those under 500 murder victims…in which case you’re DEAD or are the surviving relative of one of those victims and are mourning the loss in your family. That said.. it’s a numbers game and yes they are down but could go lower if some of our bleeding heart liberal judges would enforce our laws with stiff sentences for those who commit murder and other violent crime. I’m tired of the sob stories! I for one think that close to and under 500 is still way way too much!!
Here there is a gimmick.
NYC fudges crime statistics.
I came to visit NYC about 10 years ago. My car was stolen in Jamaica, Queens. I went to report it, and was told to go upstairs to the room on the left, take a blank form from the table, fill it out, write down the case number for my insurance company and place the filled in form on the pile next to it.
I went upstairs, and found those two piles. The file of completed forms were about 8 inches high, dating back over a year.
I went back down and asked the officer if anyone ever looks at those forms. He clearly told me, “Never. We are too busy.”
So, I asked him, “If one of YOUR officers actually stops my stolen car for speeding or a red light, would he know he stopped a stolen car?”
He replied, “No. Absolutely not. Do not expect to get your car back. We are too busy to process those forms.”
I asked him, “So what is the purpose of even filling out the form?”
The officer replied, “For the Case Number. You need it for your insurance company. Then if they send us a request, we will take the form, and fax it to them.”
So, I asked him outright, “These are felonies. Are they ever entered into the statistics for the city?”
His reply shocked me, “You would not believe the tricks the city is using to falsify the statistics. Never entering cases is one big one. Upstairs we have many hundreds of felonies that are never recorded, in any other way than a filled in form. If we accidentally make an arrest, we then file the form, and enter the data.”
So, you see guys, those numbers are meaningless.
Every time they discover a new way to fudge the stats, crime goes down.
Same with schools. A friend of mine was promoted to principal of a major HS in Brooklyn. He told me that crimes against students were seldom reported. It would look bad for the principal. So, the victims were pressured into not pressing charges or filing any forms. All kinds of excuses were used, “The chain was snatched in just after you left the building, that is not a school crime.” or “Do you really want you daughter to press charges? Normally I would say always press charges, Mrs and Mrs xxxxx, but in this case, the kids will make life really miserable for your daughter. Sometimes it is best to keep it quiet, so the girl can continue school without harrassment.” He told me he had to use those awful tactics about 6 times in one year! That was 6 rapes that happened on his school property, and were all covered up that way. His record showed no crimes for over 2 years!
So, neither the School Board’s nor the City’s statistics have any true meaning.