NYC officials announce city crime 'continues to trend downward'

NEW YORK CITY - Overall crime is down both on the streets of New York City and below in the subways, however, there was a spike in both assaults and robberies in the first quarter of this year.

Crime is down in 5 out of the 7 major crime categories in the first quarter of 2024, according to the NYPD.  

Murder is down 17.2%, rape is down 3.7%, burglary is down 13.8%, grand larceny is down 2% and grand larceny auto is down 9.7% this first quarter of 2024 compared to the same time period in 2023. 

Transit crime also saw a drop - with crime on the subways down 23% in March, which officials attributed to the surge of close to a thousand officers into the transit system. 

But transit crime did spike at the beginning of the year and recent high-profile attacks on the subway have had many New Yorkers on edge.

The NYPD says they are working to combat this perception that the subways are unsafe by enforcing quality of life concerns in the transit system. 

For example, officials say that they have issued close to 49,000 tickets for fare evasion, smoking on the platform and more so far this year. 

They have also conducted more than 4,800 arrests - which is up 53% compared to the same time period last year. 

NYPD officials blame repeat offenders for many of the issues they see in the subway. 

"We are arresting the same people every single day over and over and over again," NYPD Chief Michael Kemper said. "Is that clear? Does everyone hear what I'm saying? Where are the consequences? We can have so many less arrests. And so much less effort and such a safer subway system if there were consequences."

However, felony assaults did see a 3.8% spike this quarter. 

And it’s not just this year - according to the NYPD’s rolling report and first reported by the NY Post. There was a historic surge in assaults last year - which neared 28,000 for the first time in the city’s publicly recorded history.  

NYPD officials argued that overall crime last year did not see this same surge.  

"Let’s not forget, the fourth-safest year in the com stat era was last year," Cheif Michael LiPetri said. 

The NYPD also says that there have been 7,000 shoplifting arrests so far this year, but just 550 people account for 44% of these incidents. Officials highlighted the need for changes in the justice system to crack down on repeat offenders.