NYPD officials said a key to stopping the surge in violent crime in the city lies in stopping quality-of-life issues around New York City.

NYPD data shows crime in the city rising 36% comparing March 2021 to March 2022. There was also a 16% increase in shootings and a 17% jump in assaults.

What You Need To Know

  • NYPD announced a city-wide push to focus on reducing quality-of-life issues

  • That can range from public intoxication to dice games in the street

  • NYPD leaders say they believe these issues are correlated to violent crime

  • The department has received 1.3 million 3-1-1 calls for quality of life complaints

In the span of a week, a 12-year-old was shot in a car while eating dinner in Brooklyn and a 61-year-old woman was shot while walking home from work in the Bronx. Both died from the injuries and both were not the target in these shootings.

On Wednesday, NYPD leaders talked about what they believe is causing the crime wave.

"When I look at the most violent blocks in New York City with shooting incidents and I overlay it with quality of life type complaints there's a correlation," said Michael LePetri, the chief of crime control strategies with NYPD.
 
LePetri said the department has received 1.3 million 3-1-1 calls for quality of life issues, ranging from public urination to loud parties.

That includes a block in Harlem with 200 complaints of disorder and six shootings this year already.

"Think about if you lived on that block," he said.

NYPD did not specify which block it is referring to. Department leaders announced there would be a city-wide push to crack down on quality of life issues to hopefully reduce violent crime.

"Dice games in the streets and public intoxication are potential precursors to violent crimes," said Iesha Sekou, who runs the violence prevention nonprofit Street Corner Resources in Harlem.

“Violence in our community is actually the end product of a lot of things not happening," she said.

She also cautioned that NYPD needs to be careful how it goes about cracking down on these issues.

“Are we giving permission to stop and frisk and pat people down because there were six shootings or are we saying let's watch this block and see what’s going on,” she said.

NYPD has maintained this policy is not a return to stop and frisk.

Sekou said she believes that community organizations are crucial to helping prevent violent crime.

Street Corner Resources has a team of people that walk around a 10-block radius of Harlem to help ensure safety in the community and mediate situations that could rise to violence.

She said they have not had a shooting in about three months and there hasn't been a homicide for more than 200 days now.

NYPD noted areas that will get initial focus for this new initiative include neighborhoods in the Bronx and Brooklyn like Brownsville, East New York and Cypress Hills.