Even amid a troubling rise in murders and hate crimes, the NYPD touted a decrease in overall crime in 2019 during its year-in-review report released Monday.
According to the department’s findings, in 2019, overall crime was lower than in 2018, dropping to a new benchmark of approximately 95,000 incidents with 872 fewer victims than in 2018. The NYPD cites some of their success to their efforts to effectively respond to an increasing volume of calls for help.
Radio runs increased to 6.4 million in 2019, compared with 4.8 million in 2015, an increase of roughly 1.5 million radio runs citywide. Since 2015, response times for both crimes in progress and critical crimes have dropped 23 and 43 seconds, respectively.
“Every man and woman who wears an NYPD uniform is dedicated to serving New Yorkers in every neighborhood and to working around the clock to keep families and individuals safe from the trauma of crime and violence. We will not cede an inch in our mission to vigorously fight and prevent crime while, at the same time, continuing to build trust with the residents of New York who remain our greatest partners in ensuring the highest levels of public safety for all,” said Police Commissioner Dermot Shea.
According to the statistics, burglaries are down -8.7 percent, dropping from 11,777 recorded crimes in 2018 to 10,751 in 2019, and grand larcenies are down -1.2 percent overall, decreasing from 43,761 in 2018 to 43,227 in 2019. Crime taking place in transit also experienced a -3.4 percent decrease last year.
The NYPD’s reported rape cases went down 2.5 percent in 2019, going from 137 cases in 2018 to 103 in 2019. However, the NYPD acknowledges that rape cases are continuing to go unreported.
Despite the all-time low, hate crimes are continuing to grow throughout the five boroughs, rising from 356 in 2018 to 428 in 2019. The statistics found that 55 percent of the hate crimes were anti-Semitic in motivation, rising from 186 reported crimes in 2018 to 234 in 2019.
The number of murder cases in 2019 rose from 295 in 2018 to 318 in 2019. Felony assaults, robberies and grand larceny autos all saw rises as well, increasing 1.4 percent, 3.1 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.
With the highs and lows of crime last year, the NYPD is committed to focusing on gangs, crews and the drivers of violence, in an effort to furthering their Neighborhood Policing philosophy and to engage with the city’s youth to improve people’s lives, keep guns off the streets and prevent crime from occurring. The department is officially launching a “Youth Forum,” where NYPD and city agency partners will work together to design the most effective enforcement and prevention strategies to address rising youth crime.
“While crime is at a record low in New York City, there is more work to do to ensure that every New Yorker feels safe in their neighborhood. We will continue to use precision policing to target enforcement and deepen our work with communities to fight crime,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “With Commissioner Shea at the helm, I have full confidence the NYPD will continue to make our city even safer.”
