According to the most recent crime statistics, New York City had a 23% increase in serious crimes at the end of 2022 despite a decline in both shootings and killings.
However, Mayor Eric Adams and police officials cited recent drops as proof that crime was starting to decline during a press conference on Thursday at Police Headquarters. The index crime total—murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, grand larceny, and vehicle theft—fell somewhat between October and November.
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Adams stated that the crime rate was declining as of 2022.
The most recent crime statistics brought to a close what many analysts have called a year of conflicting outcomes. Adams has prioritized combating criminality, which increased sharply during the early stages of the pandemic.
Adams and police officials said on Thursday that there were indications the city was beginning to turn the round. They emphasized that despite the overall spike in crime, the percentage increase was still far lower than it was when the city first started. Major crimes increased by 45% at the start of 2022 compared to the previous year.
Every borough had decreases in gunshots in 2022 compared to the previous year, a 17% citywide drop. Murder decreased by 11% as well. Additionally, despite an almost 30% increase in subway crime in 2022 over the previous year, the figures were lower than they had been in 2019, the year before the epidemic. Overall, the likelihood of being a victim of crime on the subway continues to be low.
According to police sources, the Bronx witnessed the biggest drop in gunshots in the whole city. The borough accounts for 30% of all firearms arrests in the city.
Asserting that the police had “steadily and diligently cut into” crime rates during the year, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell remarked, “We knew we would not turn this city on a dime.”
“We’ve had highs and lows,” she noted. “But these decreases represent people, fewer victims, and a safer city.”
The mayor was scheduled to attend a public safety summit that was being organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton on the same day as the news conference. Several black Albany legislators, including Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, will attend the event.
Adams is pushing for more changes to the state’s bail regulations, which he has attempted to link to the rise in crime. However, both Heastie and Stewart-Cousins have refuted that assertion.
However, the mayor claimed that when he visited with both MPs last week, their meeting was fruitful.
“There’s a belief that we are rivers apart, and we just aren’t,” he remarked.
