Shootings Near Pre-Pandemic Levels In Brooklyn, Mayor Says

BROOKLYN, NY — An ongoing decline in shootings in Brooklyn and across the city has brought gun violence levels closer to where they were pre-pandemic than during a crime spike last year, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The mayor said Thursday that five of the New York City's eight patrol areas — including both in Brooklyn — have either returned or are on their way toward pre-pandemic levels, continuing a drop in gun violence that started in June.

The numbers are particularly good news for Brooklyn's North patrol bureau, which had become a hotspot for violence throughout the coronavirus crisis crime surge. North Brooklyn at its peak saw more than 100 shootings in a single month last summer.

"This is a place historically that would have been considered one of the toughest parts of New York City," de Blasio said. "It's one of the places where we've seen the greatest progress."

As of the end of August, both North Brooklyn and Manhattan's South precinct were nearing their 2019 levels of gun violence, according to the statistics.

The number of shootings in 2021 had already reached 2019 levels in the Brooklyn South and Queens North patrol bureaus and were below 2019 levels in Staten Island, de Blasio said.

The mayor noted that there is still work to be done in the Bronx, Northern Manhattan and Southern Queens, where the number of shootings are still near the gun violence seen in 2020.

The numbers are the latest milestone touted by city officials as a sign that their Safe Summer NYC initiative has worked in tamping down the pandemic crime spike.

Earlier this month, the mayor noted that there had been a 47.7 percent drop in shootings in Brooklyn during the month of August when compared to last year.

Even with the drop, there have still been hundreds of shootings in Brooklyn this year.

In the North Brooklyn patrol bureau — which stretches from Crown Heights, East New York and Downtown Brooklyn to Greenpoint — there have been 251 shootings this year, compared to 318 during the same time period in 2020, NYPD data shows. Brooklyn South has seen 132 shootings in 2021, compared to 168 the year before.

Across the city, there is a drop in shootings of 19 percent so far this year and a 28 percent decrease in the number of murders, according to the mayor.

NYPD officials have touted an increase in the number of gun arrests as a reason for the crime drop. A number of high-profile gang takedowns also contributed to the decrease, according to NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea.