Did Crime Go Up In Wash Heights And Inwood In 2021? A Breakdown

UPPER MANHATTAN, NY — For better or worse, there aren't many topics discussed more at a local level than neighborhood crime.

It's talked about on community Facebook groups, local election forums and in conversations with family members.

It is also a topic where you lots of different — sometimes contradictory — numbers and claims over the course of a year.

As the year draws to an end, Patch wanted to take a look at how crime in Washington Heights and Inwood in 2021 compared to 2020. Furthermore, how it compared to two years ago, before the pandemic began.

The two uptown neighborhoods are covered in their entirety by two New York City Police Department precincts — the 33rd and 34th.

On every NYC precinct page, there is a data sheet provided by the department for all the localized crimes that have taken place over different time frames within its boundaries.

33rd Precinct (Covers West 155th to West 179th Street, Hudson River to Harlem River)

Data covers through the week of Dec. 26, 2021.

• Murder - 2020: 4, 2021: 5, +25 percent
• Rape - 2020: 12, 2021: 14, +16.7 percent
• Robbery - 2020: 165, 2021: 229, +38.8 percent
• Felony Assault - 2020: 202, 2021: 298, +47.5 percent
• Burglary - 2020: 229, 2021: 129 , -43.7 percent
• Grand Larceny - 2020: 253, 2021: 354, +39.9 percent
• Grand Larceny Autos — 2020: 87, 2021: 80, -8 percent
• Transit - 2020: 7, 2021: 20, +185.7 percent
• Housing - 2020: 18, 2021: 25, +38.9 percent
• Petit Larceny - 2020: 700, 2021: 1,565, +123.6 percent
• Misdemeanor Assault - 2020: 304, 2021: 403, +32.6 percent
• UCR Rape - 2020: 21, 2021: 20, -4.8 percent
• Other Sex Crimes - 2020: 30, 2021: 56, +86.7 percent
• Shooting Victims - 2020: 8, 2021: 18, +125 percent
• Shooting Incidents - 2020: 8, 2021: 16, +100 percent
• Hate Crimes - 2020: 0, 2021: 1, +100 percent

Out of the 16 types of crime recorded by the Washington Heights precinct, 13 of them went up in 2021 compared to 2020.

When looking at any data set, it's important to remember that when the sample size is small — percentage increases or decreases can be skewed to seem much larger or smaller than they actually are.

For example, hate crimes going from zero to one in 2020 compared to 2021, can also be written as a hundred percent increase.

The largest percentage increase in the 33rd Precinct was seen in transit crimes, which went up 185 percent in 2021 compared to the year before.

Whereas the biggest overall increase happened in grand larceny (theft of personal property), where local incidents went from 253 to 354.

Burglary, grand larceny automobiles and UCR rape (revised definition of rape) all went down in 2021 compared to 2020 in the Washington Heights precinct.

The biggest decrease was seen in burglary, which went from 229 cases in 2020 to 129 cases in 2021.

Overall, 13 of the 16 types of crime increasing in the 33rd Precinct from 2020 to 2021 shows that crime has gone up in the area over the past year. However, as noted above, it is important to be mindful of the margins of those increases.

What About Compared To 2019? (Pre-Pandemic)

• Murder - 2019 compared to 2021: +25 percent
• Rape - 2019 compared to 2021: +27.3 percent
• Robbery - 2019 compared to 2021: +55.8 percent
• Felony Assault - 2019 compared to 2021: +48.3 percent
• Burglary - 2019 compared to 2021: +12.2 percent
• Grand Larceny - 2019 compared to 2021: +35.1 percent
• Grand Larceny Autos - 2019 compared to 2021: +122.2 percent
• Transit - 2019 compared to 2021: +185.7 percent
• Housing - 2019 compared to 2021: +38.9 percent
• Petit Larceny - 2019 compared to 2021: +98.1 percent
• Misdemeanor Assault - 2019 compared to 2021: +13.8 percent
• UCR Rape - 2019 compared to 2021: +11.1 percent
• Other Sex Crimes - 2019 compared to 2021: +47.4 percent
• Shooting Victims - 2019 compared to 2021: +157.1 percent
• Shooting Incidents - 2019 compared to 2021: +166.7 percent
• Hate Crimes - 2019 compared to 2021: -80 percent

From 2019 to 2021, 15 of the 16 types of crime increased in the 33rd Precinct, whereas only one decreased.

It is even more of a lopsided split than the 2020 numbers compared to those in 2021.

The 33rd Precinct does not provide the actual number of incidents for each type of crime in the two-year comparison to 2019, only the percentage increase or decrease.

You can check out the full crime data set for the 33rd Precinct on its website.

34th Precinct (Covers West 179th to the northern edge of Manhattan - all of Inwood - Hudson River to Harlem River)

Data covers through the week of Dec. 26, 2021.

• Murder - 2020: 7, 2021: 12, +71.4 percent
• Rape - 2020: 15, 2021: 13, -13.3 percent
• Robbery - 2020: 198, 2021: 206, +4 percent
• Felony Assault - 2020: 215, 2021: 275, +27.9 percent
• Burglary - 2020: 227, 2021: 136 , -40.1 percent
• Grand Larceny - 2020: 444, 2021: 578, +30.2 percent
• Grand Larceny Autos — 2020: 161, 2021: 212, +31.7 percent
• Transit - 2020: 19, 2021: 25, +31.6 percent
• Housing - 2020: 35, 2021: 30, -14.3 percent
• Petit Larceny - 2020: 964, 2021: 931, -3.4 percent
• Misdemeanor Assault - 2020: 386, 2021: 411, +6.5 percent
• UCR Rape - 2021: 24, 2021: 29, +20.8 percent
• Other Sex Crimes - 2020: 44, 2021: 58, +31.8 percent
• Shooting Victims - 2020: 29, 2021: 48, +65.5 percent
• Shooting Incidents - 2020: 20, 2021: 37, +85 percent
• Hate Crimes - 2020: 4, 2021: 1, -75 percent

Upper Manhattan's 34th Precinct saw less of a sweeping increase in crime across the board, but still overall had 11 of the 16 types of crimes recorded go up in 2021 compared to 2020.

In the precinct that covers Inwood, rape, burglary, housing-related crimes, petit larceny (the theft of something with little value), and hate crimes went down in 2021 compared to 2020.

Just as the 33rd Precinct, the largest overall decrease in the 34th was burglaries, which went from 227 cases in 2020 to 136 cases in 2021.

In terms of increases, shooting incidents had the largest percentage jump, going from 20 cases last year to 37 cases this year.

The biggest overall jump was again seen in grand larceny, which went from 444 incidents in 2020 to 578 incidents in 2021.

Overall, the 11 to five types of crime increasing in the 34 Precinct from 2020 to 2021 shows that crime also went up in the area over the past year.

What About Compared To 2019? (Pre-Pandemic)

• Murder - 2019 compared to 2021: +100 percent
• Rape - 2019 compared to 2021: -40.9 percent
• Robbery - 2019 compared to 2021: -7.6 percent
• Felony Assault - 2019 compared to 2021: -2.5 percent
• Burglary - 2019 compared to 2021: +12.4 percent
• Grand Larceny - 2019 compared to 2021: +5.1 percent
• Grand Larceny Autos - 2019 compared to 2021: +247.5 percent
• Transit - 2019 compared to 2021: -26.5 percent
• Housing - 2019 compared to 2021: -3.2 percent
• Petit Larceny - 2019 compared to 2021: -10.3 percent
• Misdemeanor Assault - 2019 compared to 2021: -19.6 percent
• UCR Rape - 2019 compared to 2021: -12.1 percent
• Other Sex Crimes - 2019 compared to 2021: +13.7 percent
• Shooting Victims - 2019 compared to 2021: +242.9 percent
• Shooting Incidents - 2019 compared to 2021: +208.3 percent
• Hate Crimes - 2019 compared to 2021: -75 percent

For the first time in this article, there is a set of data that shows crime decreasing in Upper Manhattan.

Out of the 16 types of crime tracked, nine of them decreased from 2019 to 2021 and seven of them increased.

In some ways, the split offers a better representation of comparisons to 2020, when New York City saw one of its greatest exoduses during the heights of the pandemic.

With that being said, the opposite trend was seen in Upper Manhattan's 33rd Precinct when comparing the number of crimes in 2019 to 2021.

You can check out the full crime data set for the 34th Precinct on its website.