General crime fell barely in New York Metropolis final yr in contrast with 2022, although the variety of felony assaults and automobile thefts remained stubbornly excessive, the police stated on Wednesday.
The town noticed vital drops within the variety of shootings and murders, in addition to in robberies, burglaries, sexual assaults and grand larcenies — all classes described as main crimes.
The drop in gun violence and homicides occurred as cities like Detroit, Philadelphia and Los Angeles also saw sharp declines in the number of murders and other major crimes.
Mayor Eric Adams of New York lauded the Police Division and touted the lower as an indication that town was making progress in bettering public security and growing the notion that New York is protected.
“I’ll say it over and over again until we all believe it and see it and hear it,” he stated at a information convention at Police Division headquarters on Wednesday. “Crime is down. Jobs are up, and tourists are back in our city.”
The overall variety of crimes fell 0.3 p.c within the metropolis, and arrests rose by almost 20 p.c.
Commissioner Edward Caban, who took over the division in July after the abrupt resignation of Commissioner Keechant Sewell, stated the police had seized greater than 13,000 unlawful weapons within the final two years, an accomplishment he stated had “ripple effects” on general crime.
“Of course, we’re not finished,” Commissioner Caban stated, including, “Your cops continue to be out there in every neighborhood taking violent criminals off our streets.”
Shootings had been down in all 5 boroughs. Final yr, about 400 fewer individuals had been shot than in 2022, when 1,566 had been shot.
There have been 386 homicides in 2023, a 12 p.c drop from 2022.
However a troubling trend in the number of killings and shootings of people under 18 persevered.
On Tuesday, that sample continued in Brooklyn, the place a 15-year-old boy was fatally shot whereas visiting mates on the Bayview Homes in Canarsie, the place he used to dwell.
The boy, Javel Lawton, was shot after round 5 individuals approached him as he was strolling out of the housing complicated, stated Joseph Kenny, the Police Division’s chief of detectives.
The group of males approached Javel and apparently started arguing, Chief Kenny stated. One pulled out a pistol and shot 5 rounds. Javel, who additionally had a firearm, shot again however didn’t hit anybody. He was pronounced lifeless at Brookdale Hospital.
The rise in felony assaults additionally continued to hassle the police. There have been 27,849 felony assaults in 2023, a rise of greater than 1,650 from 2022. Over a 3rd of these instances concerned victims of home violence.
Officers stated assaults towards cops additionally contributed to the rise. Greater than 2,235 cops had been assaulted, 350 greater than in 2022, the police stated.
Christopher Herrmann, an affiliate professor at John Jay School of Prison Justice, stated researchers wanted “more detailed data about where these assaults are happening to understand why they are happening.”
However Mayor Adams blamed the rise in police assaults on adjustments within the prison justice system which have finished away with bail in some instances.
“We don’t hold people to a high accountability when they assault law enforcement,” he stated.
He additionally appeared to take a swipe at a invoice passed last month by the City Council that will require cops to log any time they cease somebody on the road whereas investigating a criminal offense.
Mr. Adams stated his administration would push again on “any form of making our officers not do police work and do paperwork.”
He stated critics of the police had been out of contact with “working New Yorkers” and talked about Jumaane Williams, town’s public advocate, who supported the invoice. The mayor described Mr. Williams as an insulated official who “lives in a fort,” doesn’t take the subway and is pushed by a police element. (Mr. Adams additionally has a police element.)
Mr. Williams held his personal information convention to reply, calling Mr. Adams’s statements these of a “a 5-year-old throwing a temper tantrum” and noting that it was his understanding that the mayor “lives in New Jersey with his girlfriend.”
The mayor has stated he lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, whereas his associate lives in Fort Lee, N.J.
The measure, Mr. Williams stated, is a “simple transparency bill” to supply a “basic record” of police stops.
The police additionally blamed prison justice reform measures for the rise in automobile thefts.
Final yr, officers blamed that increase on TikTok videos that confirmed easy methods to steal Kias and Hyundais, the fashions which are among the many most often stolen.
However on Wednesday, Chief Michael Lipetri stated it had develop into tougher for individuals arrested on expenses of grand larceny auto to be held on bail.
The feedback don’t replicate what the info reveals: that crime is down after bail reform, stated Donna Lieberman, government director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
“It’s great that crime is down in New York City, but we’re dealing with a mayor who whatever the data says, presses for more cops,” Ms. Lieberman stated.
