Did Crime Rise In Harlem In 2021? Yes And No

HARLEM, NY — The past two years have been difficult ones in Harlem.

Reports of rat sightings, filthy streets and abandoned cars spiked as the pandemic emptied out the neighborhood. On 125th Street, leaders raised alarms about rising shoplifting, while open drug use and a proliferation of methadone clinics have come under scrutiny in East and Central Harlem.

The takedown of an alleged gang in West Harlem led to 48 arrests (and allegations of over-policing). Meanwhile, instances of violent crime have also rattled the neighborhood, from the September killing of an Uber driver on 131st Street to the January shooting of a mother by her own son in the NYCHA Lehman Houses.

But did crime actually rise? As 2021 ends, Patch examined the crime statistics for all six NYPD precincts covering Harlem to see how this year compared to 2020 — and to previous years.

A 6 percent increase

One basic takeaway: crime did rise by about 6.3 percent from 2020 to 2021 across the six precincts, from 5,657 overall reports through this time last year to 6,013 so far this year.

That finding comes with an obvious caveat: many Harlemites left the city or simply stayed indoors during the early months of the pandemic last year, while thousands of residents and workers came rushing back in 2021 — likely contributing to the increase.

Breaking the data down by precinct shows a stark contrast between different parts of the neighborhood. The steepest crime increase was seen in uptown's 32nd Precinct, which runs from 127th to 164th streets between St. Nicholas and Fifth avenues, and which saw a 14.5 percent rise from 2020 to 2021.

The 32nd also had the most total crime reports this year, at 1,279. Four precincts, meanwhile, had smaller increases, while the only precinct seeing a slight decrease compared to last year is the 26th, which covers parts of West Harlem and Morningside Heights.

Notably, all precincts' crime levels are well below where they stood decades ago, when citywide crime was at all-time highs, according to the NYPD data. But nearly all of the precincts reported higher crime rates this year than they did in pre-pandemic 2019, with only the 26th seeing a decrease in that two-year span.

Assaults rise, burglaries drop

Felony assaults and grand larcenies saw the biggest increases of any individual crime categories in Harlem between 2020 and 2021, according to NYPD data. Felony assaults rose by about 19 percent to 1,827 this year, led by a 28 percent rise in the 26th Precinct.

Grand larcenies jumped by 9 percent, with Hamilton Heights' 30th Precinct seeing the biggest rise at about 24 percent.

Other categories were largely stable, or dropped. Murders barely moved, from 43 in 2020 to 46 this year; the number of rapes held steady at 58; while burglaries declined by about 14 percent.

Related coverage:

• Harlem Leaders Sound Alarm Over 125th Street Safety Issues
• Harlem Facing 'Public Health Crisis' From Drug Use, BP Says