Queens Leads City In Crime Drop

According to NYPD statistics for 2005, Queens County led New York City in violent crime reduction for a third consecutive year.
With an overall decline in violent crime of 72.5% since 1993, more than 83,000 fewer crimes occurred in Queens in 2005 as compared to twelve years earlier.
“Queens County continues to be one of the safest counties in the nation, not to mention being one of the safest areas in New York City,” said District Attorney Richard A Brown. NYPD Patrol Borough Queens North, with a 9.6% decrease in violent crime, took first place among all of the Police Department’s patrol boroughs in the City. The 108th Precinct in Long Island City recorded the greatest decrease among the 16 police precincts in Queens County with a drop of 17.27% in violent crime.
The newly-released figures show that burglaries in Queens County are down 12.2%, falling from 6,126 to 5,378. Grand Larceny Auto has fallen from 5,942 to 5,097, a drop of 14.2%, and homicides are down from 104 to 88, a drop of more than 15% from the prior year’s levels. In fact, the decrease in homicides – 66.4% since 1993 – is the second lowest number of homicides recorded in Queens County in 35 years.
Brown attributed the drop in crime to smart crime-fighting strategies, aggressive prosecution of career criminals and violent offenders and greater attention by law enforcement to quality of life crimes.
Other key factors, according to Brown, include police enforcement initiatives in high crime areas and a strong partnership among prosecutors and police.
Brown said, “Although this is very good news, there is much more that can be done. We have reallocated available resources in the face of budget cuts and counter-terrorism expenditures in a relentless effort to drive violent crime even lower.”