As has been the case for most of 2022, New York City saw fewer shooting incidents last month than it did in September of 2021, but overall crime jumped 15.2% when compared to the same time period from last year, according to data released by the NYPD Friday.
During a news conference in Manhattan, top brass from the NYPD said citywide shooting incidents decreased by 13.2% (118 vs. 136) in September 2022 compared to the same time last month. That trend was driven by a noteworthy decline in shootings in Brooklyn, southern Queens, the Bronx and northern Manhattan, police data shows.
Murders, too, throughout the five boroughs dropped in September of 2022 compared to last year by 23.5% (39 vs. 51), police said.
However, index crimes — a metric which includes rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary and larceny — mostly increased last month compared to September 2021.
A 22.7% year-over-year increase in burglaries (1,409 v. 1,148), police said, drove overall crime upwards the most. A 21.5% increase in grand larceny auto (1,215 v. 1,000), and a 21.3% increase in grand larceny (4,553 v. 3,753) also pushed overall crime upwards, NYPD data shows.
Police officials laid the blame for the crime increases on recidivism, saying that the state’s bail reform laws equate to a “revolving door” for some criminals.
Chief of Department Kenneth Corey pointed to 43 individuals who were arrested a combined 1,027 times throughout the five boroughs this year – including a combined 438 times in the 19th Precinct on the Upper East Side – as indicative of the trend.
“As our officers and detectives go out into the city every day and do their jobs, and as all of you sitting here are doing your jobs, these people are out there right now, these 43 people, doing their jobs, and their job is to steal and steal as much as they can and as often as they can,” Corey said. “The reason they’re able to do that is because right now the only consequence they face is spending a couple of hours in a police station – a minor inconvenience. And then they’re immediately re-released an go on to steal again.”
Hate crimes rose as well, with a 19% jump logged last month compared to September 2021 (56 vs. 47), authorities said.
Police, however, were quick to tout record high gun arrests in the first three quarters of 2022. Authorities said through the first nine months of this year, the NYPD has made 3,601 gun arrests, a 5% increase compared to the same time last year, and a 27-year-high for the department.
“We will not take our foot off the gas,” said Police Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell. “We will continue to employ effective strategies to suppress violence, interdict and seize illegal guns and address all other crime categories.”