NYC Violent Crime Hits Some Pre-Pandemic Levels In October

NEW YORK CITY — Murders and shootings are at or near pre-pandemic levels in most of New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday.

NYPD monthly crime statistics for October show murders decreased by 9.8 percent compared to this time last year, though violence still claimed the lives of 37 New Yorkers, data shows.

Shootings in October also decreased by 4.4 percent from the same point last year, from 135 to 129, according to data.

The biggest reductions unfolded in Brooklyn — since May, shooting dropped 20 percent in the borough, de Blasio said. In the Brooklyn South borough command, the shooting rate is close to where it was in 2019, and numbers are down in Brooklyn North as well.

"Those are really powerful indicators in a borough that often had some of the biggest problems," de Blasio said at his daily briefing.

NYPD Chief of Department Rodney Harrison also praised Brooklyn's decreasing crime rate and said the largest drops in violent crime have been in Bedford-Stuyvesant, East New York, Flatbush, Canarsie and Brownsville.

Outside of Brooklyn, numbers in Staten Island, Queens and Manhattan South are also closer to their pre-pandemic rate.

"We've seen, in six of the eight borough commands, either reaching back to 2019 levels or substantial improvements compared to 2020," de Blasio said. "That's extraordinary."

But de Blasio acknowledged "real challenges" remain in the Bronx and in Manhattan North, where Harrison said the NYPD continues to focus its attention.

Harrison cited the Bronx, which is the only borough that has had over 1,000 gun arrests this year and is where the NYPD's Youth Coordination Officers have "made connections" with 150 at-risk youth in October.

"We are focusing our attention on specific areas in the city that are causing some of the violence," Harrison said.