Manhattan shootings up, as was overall crime in October
BY JENNA BAGCAL
At a Nov. 3 press conference,
Mayor de Blasio
commended the efforts
of “the fi nest police force in the
United States” as well as work
on the community level to turn
back gun violence and murders
in October — but the statistics
for the month showed a troubling
surge in other crimes.
The mayor’s comments followed
the release of the October
2021 Citywide Crime Statistics,
showing the decrease of murders,
shootings and overall crime
across the city over the past year.
“In this city, real change is
happening. We’ve got more to
do for sure but real change is
happening,” the mayor said. “It’s
about precision policing, it’s about
neighborhood policing, these approaches
work.”
NYPD statistics showed that
that murders and shootings were
down by 9.8% (37 in 2021 vs. 41
in 2020) and 4.4% (129 in 2021
vs. 135 in 2020) respectively. The
stats also showed that the number
of shootings victims fell by 11%.
“Contrast that to what we’re
seeing nationwide and it’s very sad
to say, nationwide murders are
up substantially. Sixteen percent
in major cities across the country
— Chicago, LA, Philadelphia,
Houston — unfortunately we’re
seeing murder rates go up, we’re
seeing more crime,” de Blasio said.
De Blasio credited the city’s
eight borough commands with
bringing major crime indicators,
especially shootings, close
to where they were before the
pandemic in 2019.
Data showed that there were
445 shootings in Brooklyn in
2021 compared to 557 last year,
for a 20 percent reduction.
The data also showed that
Manhattan, particularly in the
north, and the Bronx had shooting
increases over the last year.
Manhattan shootings were reportedly
up 220 in 2021 compared to
175 last year, for a 26 percent
increase, while the Bronx experienced
a 31% increase, with 431
shootings in 2021 compared to
328 in 2020.
“There’s some things we’ve
seen since the start of the summer
in June where we were up
over 200 shooting year to date,”
said NYPD Chief of Department
Rodney Harrison. “Now we’re
only up 23 shootings compared to
last year and the decrease is due
to the great work by the Summer
All Out of our offi cers, stronger
connections with the community
SOURCE: NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT
as well as precision policing into
our most problematic gangs.”
To further aid in precision
policing, Harrison said that the
NYPD was focusing their attention
on communities experiencing
increased violence.
Harrison encouraged New
Yorkers to attend local Build
the Block meetings to help out
with community policing. He
reported that there have been
274 meetings during the past
three months, which helped to
identify and address issues within
the community.
Assaults, robberies were
sky high
But beyond the shootings,
the NYPD reported a troubling
uptick in overall major felonies
(murder, rape, robbery, felony assault,
burglary, grand larceny and
auto theft) during October 2021
— with more than 10,000 such
crimes reported for the period.
The spike was largely fueled by
massive increases in robberies (up
15.8%), felony assault (more than
2,100 cases in October, a 13.8%
jump from the previous year) and
grand larcenies (more than 4,100
cases, up 18.6% year-over-year).
Though he praised his department’s
efforts to battle crime, Police
Commissioner Dermot Shea
hinted, as he has done before,
that more must be done to keep
criminals behind bars.
“While their devotion to service
is commendable, effective crime
fi ghting is predicated upon a collaborative
effort from all aspects
of the criminal justice landscape
– as well as society as a whole,”
Shea said. “Additionally, our brave
offi cers’ work must be reinforced
by meaningful consequences that
send a consequential message to
those who fi nd themselves on the
path toward criminality.”
With reporting by Robert
Pozarycki
Over 100,000 NYC public school students
reported as homeless for sixth-straight year
BY ALEJANDRA O'CONNELLDOMENECH
Over 101,000 New York City public
school students were homeless
last school year representing a
42% increase since 2010, data compiled
by education advocates shows.
Last year was the sixth year in a row
that the number of New York City public
school students experiencing homelessness
has been more than 100,000, according
to the nonprofi t Advocates for Children of
New York, which releases an annual report
on the number of students experiencing
housing insecurity.
This year’s report found that while most
students continued to learn remotely after
schools were forced to shutter during the
COVID-19 pandemic, almost 28,000 public
school students did so while living in a
city shelter and another 65,000 did so while
living “doubled-up” with friends or family.
In addition, the report shows that an
extra 3,860 students were unsheltered last
year and instead lived in cars, parks, or
abandoned buildings.
“No child should be homeless, but while
Mayor-elect Adams’ administration makes
plans to tackle New York City’s housing and
PHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES
homelessness crisis, they must meet the immediate,
daily educational needs of students
who are homeless,” said Kim Sweet, Executive
Director of Advocates for Children.
AFC’s number represents a slight drop
from the reported number of students who
experienced homelessness during the 2019-
20 school year by 9% but that decrease
could also be the result of fewer children
enrolling in the public school system. Since
the pandemic started, New York City public
schools have lost over 50,000 students,
DOE data shows.
When asked by reporters Nov. 8 to
respond to the report, Mayor Bill de Blasio
said “some real important work has been
done” in terms of squashing homelessness
in the city but that “more has to be done.”
“The goal is to constantly get families
to permanent affordable housing,” said de
Blasio.”We’ve got a lot more to do and to
really support kids in shelter.”
As a result of the report’s fi ndings, AFC
along with 40 other children’s advocacy
groups are calling on incoming mayor Eric
Adams to overall educational support systems
in city homeless shelters and to hire
150 shelter-based DOE Community Coordinators
to help connect homeless families
with educational support.
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