BY AIDAN GRAHAM
This summer in New York
City was signifi cantly less violent
than last year — with murders,
shootings and assaults all
seeing sharp declines between
June and August of 2021, compared
with 2020.
“We know that the summer
is always a challenging
time here,” said NYPD Commissioner
Dermot Shea. “I am
happy to report that this is
now three months in the bank
where we have really turned
the corner in terms of pushing
back on that violence with all
of our partners.”
Throughout the city, the
NYPD recorded 115 homicides
in that three-month stretch
this year, which represents a 27
percent decline compared with
the previous year, when New
York City saw 158 killings.
Similarly, shooting incidents
dropped 28.8 percent,
from 689 to 490 this year, while
felony assaults decreased from
6,216 to 6,168 year-over-year
between June and August.
“This is now three months
in a row — June, July, and August,”
Shea said. “And the expectation
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is 100 percent that
when we fi nish this year, we’re
going to string together monthafter
month of reducing shootings
... I fi rmly believe we’re
going to accomplish that.”
Good news, but context is
needed
While the decline in violence
this year compared to last
is undoubtedly welcome news,
the numbers remain high relative
to the average statistics
throughout Mayor Bill de Blasio’s
seven-and-a-half-year tenure
as the city’s chief executive.
Year-to-date, 304 people
have been murdered in the Big
Apple, which averages out to 38
people per-month, or 456 peryear
— which would be the second
highest total of de Blasio’s
time in offi ce, just after 2020.
Between 2014, when the
lame-duck mayor took over at
City Hall, and 2020, the NYPD
recorded an average of 338.4
homicides each year.
So while this year’s numbers
are comparatively bad
for the de Blasio administration,
2021 still remains on
pace to see a lower amount of
killings than any year under
Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and allbut
two-years of Mayor Michael
Bloomberg — as those
two men presided over an average
of 889.6 and 514 murders
per-year, respectively.
The geography of crime
So far this year, the Bronx
is the borough with the most
murders — as the area has seen
97 killings in 2021. Brooklyn is
a close second with 91 killings
so far, while Manhattan and
Queens have both seen 54 homicides
in 2021. Staten Island,
as usual, is the least-deadly
borough, with just eight recorded
murders this year, according
to police statistics.
Compared with last year,
the Bronx is the only borough
to see an increase in killings
to-date this year, compared
REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
with last — as the 97 murders
this year is 25 higher than the
72 killings between Jan. 1 and
Aug. 31 of last year.
“The Bronx, we have some
work to do there, as well as
some pockets throughout the
city,” said the police commissioner
said. “But I think
I think a lot of really positive
work has been done and it’s going
to continue to be done.”
Brooklyn saw the biggest
to-date decline in homicides,
with a 21.5 percent drop, from
116 to just 91 so far in 2021.
Due to a statically-signifi -
cant uptick in shooting incidents
throughout the fi rst few
months of 2021, the year-todate
numbers on gun violence
are higher this year relative
to last — 1,041 compared to 989
— although that trend has reversed
itself in recent months.
Like murders, Brooklyn
saw the biggest decline
in shootings, with a 20 percent
drop from 341 to 344.
The Bronx saw the biggest increase
in incidents of gun violence
between January and
August, from 251 last year to
336 so far in 2020.
The mayor, in referencing
the decline in August shootings
year-over-year in Brooklyn,
called the borough an
“amazing success story.”
“I want everyone to understand,
Brooklyn, historically,
particularly Brooklyn North
— an area we’ve had a lot of
challenges,” Hizzoner said.
“But Brooklyn has been an
amazing success story now.
Shootings down 47.7 percent
compared to August, 2020.”
Violent crime declines
in summer of 2021
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