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Total crime fell barely in New York Metropolis final 12 months in contrast with 2022, although the variety of felony assaults and automobile thefts remained stubbornly excessive, the police stated on Wednesday.
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 additionally noticed sharp declines within the variety of murders and different main crimes.
Mayor Eric Adams of New York lauded the Police Division and touted the lower as an indication that the town was making progress in bettering public security and rising the notion that New York is secure.
“I’ll say it over and over till all of us consider it and see it and listen to it,” he stated at a information convention at Police Division headquarters on Wednesday. “Crime is down. Jobs are up, and vacationers are again in our metropolis.”
The entire variety of crimes fell 0.3 % within the metropolis, and arrests rose by practically 20 %.
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 results” on total crime.
“After all, we’re not completed,” Commissioner Caban stated, including, “Your cops proceed to be on the market in each neighborhood taking violent criminals off our streets.”
Shootings have been down in all 5 boroughs. Final 12 months, about 400 fewer individuals have been shot than in 2022, when 1,566 have been shot.
There have been 386 homicides in 2023, a 12 % drop from 2022.
However a troubling development within the variety of killings and shootings of individuals beneath 18 continued.
On Tuesday, that sample continued in Brooklyn, the place a 15-year-old boy was fatally shot whereas visiting pals on the Bayview Homes in Canarsie, the place he used to reside.
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 useless 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 have been assaulted, 350 greater than in 2022, the police stated.
Christopher Herrmann, an affiliate professor at John Jay School of Legal Justice, stated researchers wanted “extra detailed knowledge about the place these assaults are occurring to grasp why they’re occurring.”
However Mayor Adams blamed the rise in police assaults on adjustments within the felony justice system which have carried out away with bail in some instances.
“We don’t maintain individuals to a excessive accountability after they assault legislation enforcement,” he stated.
He additionally appeared to take a swipe at a invoice handed final month by the Metropolis Council that will require cops to log any time they cease somebody on the road whereas investigating against the law.
Mr. Adams stated his administration would push again on “any type of making our officers not do police work and do paperwork.”
He stated critics of the police have been out of contact with “working New Yorkers” and talked about Jumaane Williams, the 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 mood tantrum” and noting that it was his understanding that the mayor “lives in New Jersey along with his girlfriend.”
The mayor has stated he lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, whereas his companion lives in Fort Lee, N.J.
The measure, Mr. Williams stated, is a “easy transparency invoice” to offer a “fundamental document” of police stops.
The police additionally blamed felony justice reform measures for the rise in automobile thefts.
Final 12 months, officers blamed that enhance on TikTok movies that confirmed tips on how to steal Kias and Hyundais, the fashions which can be among the many most steadily stolen.
However on Wednesday, Chief Michael Lipetri stated it had turn out to be tougher for individuals arrested on fees of grand larceny auto to be held on bail.
The feedback don’t replicate what the information reveals: that crime is down after bail reform, stated Donna Lieberman, govt director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
“It’s nice that crime is down in New York Metropolis, however we’re coping with a mayor who regardless of the knowledge says, presses for extra cops,” Ms. Lieberman stated.
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