New York City is on course to mark the fewest homicides since records have been kept, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly announced Wednesday.
The city is expected to fall below 500 murders in 2007, the lowest level for any year since 1963, when comparable information on homicides was first collected, Bloomberg said at a news conference.
“At the end of 2002, for the first time in four decades, murders in New York City fell below 600, and we were able to hold them below 600 for the next four years,” Bloomberg said. “Today, with just five days of the year remaining, it appears that we have another historic achievement within our reach.”
Bloomberg said decreases in major felony crimes were recorded across every crime category and in all five boroughs in 2007, marking the seventeenth straight year in which crime has gone down…
Officials name “Operation Impact” as the prime reason for the decline in crime. The NYPD effort focuses on problem people and places, Kelly said. It places significant numbers of uniformed officers in small areas of precincts, where crime rates are relatively high.
No doubt there will be an omnibus report. Success isn’t exactly overwhelming American policing.
Looks like the prime factor is actually having enough coppers to deal with crime – where crime is epidemic.
Cool!! Especially for those of us living here. 1963 is my birth year, so this means I’m in NYC at the safest time during my lifetime.
BTW, NYC (and NY State) get mention in Freakonomics for our crime drop. The author chalks this up to legalized abortion and backs it with corresponding statistics from the other 4 states that legalized abortion before Roe v. Wade and other countries. We were going into a very high crime era in the 90s. It stopped just about the time that the aborted fetuses would have been of age to begin committing crimes.
His conclusion is that mothers really do know whether they’re prepared to raise children. Regardless of whether you think abortion is the preferred method of birth control (almost no one does), easy affordable access to safe, legal, birth control and, when necessary, abortion, does help society as a whole.
You’ll have to read that section of the book if you really want the details. I don’t remember them well enough and would not want to violate copyright laws anyway.
All the reasons are good reasons. If you can diminish the opportunities for crime, decrease the factors making crime a taste-tempting treat – without becoming oppressive to the general population, the sum of programs is worth it.
I’m sure ‘Operation Impact’ had an impact on the operations of criminals, but reading ‘Freakonomics’ offers a possibly more likely explanation. The chapter ‘Where have all the criminals gone’ looks for the cause in US supreme court ruling Roe vs. Wade making abortion legal.
The argument is that a lot of women in less than favourable situations like poverty and/or single parenthood now had abortions. These otherwise born children had a big chance of becoming criminal (study shows the combination of poverty and single parent makes a child far more likely to have a criminal future).
I know, it makes you feel a bit strange if this is true, but it is too well documented just to ignore.
#3 – Why would I feel strange?
<500 people had to basically die at the hands of another so NYPD could celebrate a victory? It’s a bit premature (days left in year still) but I’d hate to be the <501th.
The city learned from the war in Iraq… make a deal with the criminals and voila… crime goes down. 😉
N.Y. used to be fun 🙁
It just means all the murderers have moved into New Jersey.
Los Angeles is also boasting about a lower than before murder rate. Anywhere else ?
One should also note that ammunition is at an all time high price these days, so it could be basic supply and demand :).
The attributions for the crime drop disturb me. I smell profiling and civil liberty diminishments but, at least I missed the smell of formaldehyde.
#10 – DeLaMa,
Well, of course, if you count police officers shooting unarmed civilians as crimes, then the numbers for NYC change dramatically.
#11 – me,
Wallet!!!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! (reload) Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
that’s bad news, no more Death Wish movies???
Renato
from Brazil
Murders are down, but tasings are up… Maybe the criminals got the word… 🙂
#13. Sorry Renato, but there is always LA. For a sad reminder of what NY used to be like, check out the LA Times Homicide Map (TinyURL http://tinyurl.com/3d8rdm )
Gee! How could crime actually go down without Giuliani being mayor?
Giuliani claimed credit for reducing the NYC crime rate; but the same improvements were being seen, in demographically similar areas throughout the USA, at the same time.
Very few articles reported this fact, so this slimey politician got away with a lie – yet again.
Now, Giuliani claims to be the hero of 911. This in spite of putting all of NY Cities emergency response facilities high in WTC Bldg #7, for purely political reasons. This was AFTER the WTC was bombed by Islamic terrorists, the first time. He was also warned repeatedly that it was a terrible idea – for reasons that were obvious even then.
Furthermore, Giuliani never fixed the communications incompatabilities found during that first bombing. Hence, many unnecessary deaths of heroic firemen, police and civilian victims on 911.
Some hero!
Fortunately, the NYC Firemen and Policemen are speaking out about this phoney. Please pay attention to these real heroes.
They were heroes before 911, during the events of 911, and will always be heroes by doing their jobs.
Funniest comment about Giuliani:
Every Giuliani sentence has 3 elements – a noun, a verb, and 911.
Happy New Year to all.
I didn’t notice any mention of Jack Maple (appointed by Bill Bratton) and his computer program to put cops where they were needed in the mid 90’s. The program Giuliani took credit for, primarily by firing Bratton, with Maple following, because they were getting press for the program and he (Rudy) wasn’t.
The TV series “The District” always had “For Jack Maple, Who Lived It” in the end credits. That is what originally made me find out who Maple was.
Here is a quote from an August 2001 “New York” magazine article eulugizing Maple:
“In 1991, there were more than 2,200 murders in New York, and everyone — pols, sociologists, urban experts — was ready to throw in the towel. But not Maple. He sat at his table along the wall in Elaine’s and talked about how he could cut crime in half. It was a preposterous barroom boast — and he made it happen.”
“In a mere 27 months as New York’s deputy police commissioner for crime-control strategies, he obliterated decades of accepted wisdom about police work, crime fighting, and responsible government. His Compstat process, which brought accountability to the NYPD, is now used by more than a third of the country’s big-city police departments.”
The late 80’s – early 90’s were a time when any bored, aimless, unemployed number in the over-population trough could get zonked to the gills for the price of a Happy Meal. The crack epidemic ended not because of police work or decreased teenaged demograghics,but simply because common sense eventually emerged. I compare the crack epidemic to the glue and furniture polish huffing craze of the 60’s. After a while people wise up. The murder rate in NYC has been in a steady decline ever since. What’s next ?
That’s not a record drop in crime.
Jack maples idea was for precinct commanders to be held accountable but the boots on the ground(cops) never get the credit for actually dong the work. three and a half years with out a contract, 40% behind other surrounding jurisdictons.the senior cops are leaving because instead of rewarding the cops for a job well done, the commanders,who attend monthly meetings, have to beat last years numbers in order to look competent.in the private sector you get rewarded for that but not in policing. cops are burned out and the new kids coming on will soon realize it to.the latest academy class had 12 resignations the first day after getting there assignment.the city better wake up