As 2023 winds down, police data shows crime in New York City has dropped a total of 4% in 2023 after climbing last year, according to a preview of year-end crime statistics NYPD officials shared with Gothamist.
The drop corresponds to a huge uptick in arrests for what police call “major crimes,” which include murders, rapes, burglaries and robberies. For those, police say they have made more arrests than any time since 2000.
The number of people shot in the city has dipped nearly 50% since 2021, said NYPD Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael LiPetri. He said police contributed to that drop by carefully tracking about 1,000 people they suspect are responsible for a large percentage of the city’s shootings.
“We’ve really honed in on the drivers of crime and violence in New York City,” LiPetri said.
But the downward trend had two exceptions: car thefts and assaults. Police officials said the rise in assaults may be partly because more New Yorkers are living on the street who may become involved in violence – either as victims or perpetrators.. Meanwhile, police said a TikTok trend was partly to blame for the spike in car thefts.
Here is how some different types of crime played out this year, according to police data through the first half of December.
Murders
There were 377 murders across the five boroughs from January through Dec. 17, down from 438 in 2022 — flattening a troubling spike during the pandemic when the city experienced its worst gun violence in nearly a decade.
Rapes
There were 1,401 reported rapes so far this year, down 11% from 1,572 during the same period last year, but experts warn that police data on rapes captures just a sliver of sexual assaults.
“Rape is one thing that gets underreported,” said James Dooley, a former NYPD captain and assistant professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Shootings
There were 194 fatal shootings this year as of Dec. 17, down 19% from 239 fatal shootings during the same period last year….
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