Citywide Crime Levels Near Historic Lows, NYPD Says

ONE POLICE PLAZA, MANHATTAN — New York City saw fewer shootings, robberies, burglaries and car thefts during the first six months of 2016 than in any similar period since 1993, police officials announced Monday.

Brooklyn, in particular, saw major crimes collectively fall about 7.3 percent during the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2015, officials said.

The city's crime statistics were presented by Mayor Bill de Blasio, NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton and a lineup of the department's leading officers at a Monday press conference.

NYPD officials boasted that the department has been using data, technology and community policing to more effectively zero in on a few groups responsible for the city's major crimes, including gangs and drug runners.

As a result, officials said, the city is getting safer even while NYPD officers are having fewer "contacts" — such as stop-and-frisks — with members of the public.

The city's officers stopped and frisked fewer than 8,000 people during the first half of the year, officials said — a fraction of the hundreds of thousands who used to be searched annually, almost all of them men of color.

Meanwhile, during the first half of 2016, a total of 48,309 major crimes were recorded by police. That's up slightly from the first six months of last year, but down from more than 208,000 during the first six months of 1993.

These numbers show the NYPD is "stopping the right people," Bratton said.

Some other key statistics from the first half of the year:

• The NYPD recorded 161 murders, down from 172 last year, but up from 2014's record-setting low of 150
• 435 shootings were recorded, down from 545 last year
• 7,329 robberies were recorded, compared to 7,627 last year
• 6,242 burglaries were recorded, down from 6,964 last year
• 2,930 cars were recorded stolen, down from 3,320 last year

And here are the key numbers for Brooklyn:

• The NYPD recorded 60 murders in Brooklyn during the first half of 2016, compared to 63 last year
• 225 rapes were recorded, up from 219 last year
• 2,324 robberies were recorded, down from 2,672 last year
• 3,073 felony assaults were recorded, up from 2,978 last year
• 2,017 burglaries were recorded, down from 2,603 last year
• 5,542 grand larcenies were recorded, down from 5,690 last year
• 1,010 cars were stolen, down from 1,141 last year

(A notable exception to Brooklyn's overall crime trends is evident in the NYPD's 72nd Precinct, which covers Sunset Park, South Slope, Green-Wood and Windsor Terrace. In these neighborhoods, major crimes are collectively up about 20 percent so far this year compared to 2015. Have questions or concerns for your local police officials? The next meeting of the 72nd Precinct's community council will take place Tuesday, July 12, at 7:30 p.m. at the Marien Center, located at 4520 4th Ave.)

At Monday's press conference, de Blasio and Bratton applauded the expansion of the NYPD's "community policing" initiative, in which officers are assigned to specific geographic areas within precincts and are required to distribute their department-issued email addresses and cellphone numbers to the public.

Robert Boyce, the NYPD's chief of detectives, said the department has dedicated more officers to tracking gangs and drug networks.

The results, according to Boyce: 24 mass gang arrests so far this year, netting 491 suspects, and 17 drug network takedowns, in which 115 individuals were taken into custody — along with 130 kilograms of heroin and 655 kilograms of cocaine, among many other drugs.

Rape reports in the city, unlike most major crimes, increased 7.3 percent in the first half of 2016 compared to last year, officials said. However, by way of justifying the rise, they claimed that only 8 percent of these sex assaults were committed by strangers.

Reporters at Monday's press conference bombarded NYPD officials with questions about last week's fatal shooting of Delrawn Small in East New York at the hands of an off-duty cop — many of which were deflected by Bratton.

The police commissioner argued that the his department already employs many of the policing reforms being pushed at a national level, such as training that teaches officers to deal with emotionally disturbed people and helps them confront implicit racial bias.

De Blasio added that he's glad to see the country discussing police brutality and racism more bluntly than ever before.

"It is allowing us to finally look in the face the things we have to change," the mayor said.

Bratton said last week that NYPD officers fired their guns during 65 incidents in 2015. Monday, he added that 33 of those were "combat" situations — which would mean the NYPD uses firearms far less frequently than most other police forces.

The commissioner said he takes no issue with the focus the Black Lives Matter movement has placed on the relationship between police departments and communities of color. But he did criticize what he described as efforts, by some of the protesters, to portray all police officers as brutal or racist. Such cops exist, Bratton said, but they do not represent the majority of police officers.

"Dialogue works. Collaboration works," Bratton said. "There's a place and time for demonstrations, but what we need at this particular point in time is to move beyond demonstrations, try to find common ground and engage in dialogue."