New York City noticed a steep drop in murders and gun violence for the primary part of 2024 in comparison to final yr as police took an “historic” number of guns off the streets, NYPD officials mentioned Wednesday.
Overall crime dropped 2% from the similar length final yr, officers mentioned — regardless that the collection of reported rapes, robberies and attacks had been up from January to June, in line with the latest police department statistics.
As of June 30, murders in town dropped by means of 17%, from 208 final yr to 171, whilst the collection of capturing incidents fell by means of 8%, from 482 to 441.
“[The cops] have one mission: to go after the bad guys so they don’t do bad things to good people in this city,” Mayor Adams mentioned at a Wednesday afternoon press convention at police headquarters about the newest crime statistics. “We put in place many initiatives and those initiatives are working.”
The drop in violence stemmed, in phase, from the massive amount of firearms the NYPD has seized during the last yr, Police Commissioner Edward Caban mentioned.
“Since 2022 we have taken 13,000 firearms off the streets of the city with 3,400 guns seized in the past six months,” Caban mentioned. “These weapons will never again threaten innocent New Yorkers.”
Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael LiPetri mentioned the volume of gun seizures had been “historic.”
The numbers of weapons taken hadn’t been noticed in 29 years, when there have been 4 occasions extra shootings in town than lately, LiPetri mentioned.
Crime discounts had been noticed around the board, from precincts to NYCHA housing facilities to the subway system, the place Gov. Hochul known as in the National Guard to backstop the NYPD to stay a watch out for crimes and do bag tests.
By the top of June, there used to be a 6% drop in general crime in town’s transit device, officlals mentioned.
Yet, whilst murders and shootings had been down, attacks and robberies remained up for the yr, statistics confirmed. Felony attacks rose to fourteen,364 from 15,545 in the primary part of 2023, whilst robberies greater to eight,211 from 7,828.
The collection of rapes in town additionally rose from the similar time frame final yr — 11%. There had been 814 rape stories filed this yr by means of the top of June, law enforcement officials mentioned. This time final yr, there have been 733 — 81 fewer.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny mentioned his crew shall be tackling the rise head-on and feature introduced in extra detectives to the department’s Special Victims Squad to do the activity.
“We have upstaffed our special victims unit tremendously,” he mentioned. “We’re getting new talent in and we haven’t seen staffing like this in years. We’re really taking it seriously.”
Since the start of the yr, there were drops in 4 of the seven crime classes tracked in the NYPD’s CompStat device. Crime discounts had been additionally noticed in burglaries and grand larcenies, or nonviolent thefts of $1,000 or extra.
The collection of automotive thefts in town, which had jumped in fresh years spurred on by means of a viral TikTok problem that presentations youngsters how simple it’s to thieve Kias and Hyundais, has additionally dropped to this point this yr by means of 10%, law enforcement officials mentioned.
Police noticed 758 fewer automobiles being stolen off town streets as robbery numbers dropped from 7,525 to six,797, law enforcement officials mentioned. At the similar time, law enforcement officials cracked down on automotive thieves, with 200 extra arrests this yr than final yr, going from 874 to at least one,074.
The drop in crime used to be coupled with a 14% leap in general arrests, statistics display.
With the freshest — and occasionally essentially the most violent — months forward this summer season, the NYPD plans to enforce its “deployment zone” plan the place the dept floods top crime spaces with law enforcement officials in order to tamp down crime.
Under this plan in 2023, New York noticed a 28% drop in shootings and a 19% drop in murders in July and August, in line with NYPD statistics.
“We’ve identified about 10 square miles in this city that can account for 25% of the shootings,” LiPetri mentioned. “That’s where thousands of officers are going to be placed.”
