A citywide drop in shootings so far this year continued into Independence Day, as both police and community groups worked to prevent armed conflicts on a holiday often plagued by gun violence.
There were 23 shootings between July 1 and the morning of July 5, acting NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said at a press conference on Thursday. That’s down from 43 during the same time period in 2022. At the height of the pandemic-era crime spike in 2020, there were 49 shootings in that same timeframe, Caban said. Two shootings reported by the NYPD between July 4 and the early morning hours of July 5 this year were fatal — one in Fordham Heights and one in Inwood.
Caban attributed the decline in shootings to the department’s focus on getting illegal guns off the streets and an increased police presence in areas with high crime rates.
“That is not just a number,” he said. “These are hundreds of real people, hundreds of families who are spared the devastating impacts of gun violence.”
Nationwide, July 4 and 5 tend to account for a disproportionate number of mass shootings, and this year was no exception. The Gun Violence Archive tallied at least 15 across the country this year, including one in Paterson, New Jersey. But experts have also noted a downward trend in shootings and homicides overall in many cities so far in 2023, including in New York.
Here, in the first six months of 2023, shootings have declined more than 25% and homicides have fallen about 10% compared to the same period in 2022, according to NYPD data. Experts said various factors are likely contributing to the drop in violence, and that it’s hard to isolate any one cause.
Peter Moskos, a criminologist and professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the double-digit decrease in shootings is more than a statistical blip. He said it correlates with an increase in enforcement.
“They’re being proactive,” said Moskos.
While the NYPD credits the downward trend to the department’s focus…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply