NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday that progress is being made on fighting crime in the city, but new statistics from the NYPD for November show some troubling trends.
November saw a 17% drop in murders compared to the same time in 2020 but a 40% increase in grand larceny, a 24% jump in robbery and an 11% increase in serious assaults. Transit crimes were also up 106% from last November.
Overall index crime in the city increased by 21.3% in November 2021 compared with the same period in 2020, while overall index crime through November this year was also up 3.4% compared to the same time last year.
De Blasio noted that the city’s crime rate is 10% below the national average and that there’s been progress as the year comes to a close despite the challenges that the pandemic brought, including social dislocation and crime increases.
“Here there has been more success fighting it back,” de Blasio said. “There is so much more to do to make the people of this city safe. We’re going to keep doing it to the last minute. I know the next administration is going to take that and go farther.”
The mayor also touted the number of gun arrests: there were 334 in November, bringing the total number of gun arrests in 2021 to 4,144. That’s a 7.8% increase compared to 2020 and the largest number of year-to-date gun arrests since 1995.
However, for the year, the murder rate is about even with last year, with 434 murders so far this year through November compared to 436 during the same time period in 2020.
There were 119 shootings in November, a 2.6% increase compared to the 116 last November.
And there’s new concern about an increase in the number of young people with guns.
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea, who joined de Blasio for his last crime stats briefing, said 10% of youth arrests are for firearms, what he called a “jump” from 1.8% a year ago.
As for the spike in crimes like robbery and serious assault, Shea said repeat offenders set free under bail reform are largely to blame.
“What we need to come to grips with and acknowledge is how we manage that criminal justice system and the level of incarceration and the impact that that law has had on both,” Shea said.
“There’s a mentality of de-carceration regarding these ‘low-level crimes,’ but what is sometimes well-intended, and I believe missed, is that when you don’t have consequences for the low-level crimes, it escalates and grows,” the commissioner said.
As he prepares to retire from the department later this month, Shea praised his rank and file, calling them the “glue that held the city together” during the pandemic.
De Blasio said Shea took on one of the greatest challenges a police commissioner has ever faced.
“Finding a way to keep the NYPD moving forward during an extraordinary series of challenges and dislocations, and seeing us through it—and I give him a lot of credit for that—I think that’s going to be his legacy,” the mayor said.
Shea said there’s still much work to be done, but he said he’s proud of what the department accomplished over the past eight years through community and precision policing.
“You know, I’m confident in my ability and being able to lead this agency in all that we’ve accomplished, so I sleep very well at night,” the commissioner said.
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