Halfway through the year, crime numbers have generally gone in the right direction. Through June 25th, murders citywide this year are 8% fewer than this time last year. There has also been a decline in shootings, with 27% fewer victims compared to last year. Smaller crimes like shoplifting are down, as is subway crime.
The overall major crime rate, though, is up 1% so far this year compared to last. Even still, that follows a year that ended with a 22% spike. So this year has been anything but a “crime wave.”
But perceptions are everything, and the perception is that New York City is still not safe.
Read any newspaper and there’s bound to be crime reported in it, and interviews with New Yorkers that express fear or anxiety. On one level, hearing about any crime makes you feel unsafe: if there was one stabbing on the subway all year, I’m sure some would still avoid taking it. But on another, crime statistics mean less than one might believe.
Eugene O’Donnell, a former NYPD officer who is now a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said he’s not shocked New Yorkers still don’t feel safe, even as police conduct more street stops and report sharp rises in arrests and summonses. He says that other factors contribute to the feeling of unease, like the mentally ill man who stands on the same corner harassing passersby, aggressive panhandler, and the scooter rider that blows through red lights, for instance.
In terms of crime, O’Donnell believes shoplifting is a largely underreported crime, and that progressive prosecutors often care more about “making excuses” for criminals in those sorts of cases than they do getting justice for victims, he alleges
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is a key character in this viewpoint. He sparked controversy when he issued a memo to his prosecutors shortly after taking office instructing them to dial back prosecutions of minor crimes. After being called out as soft on crime by the widow of a slain city cop at the officer’s funeral, Bragg then sent out a staff-wide directive in February 2022, saying that commercial robberies with a gun or knife will be charged as felonies. He also made clear a zero-tolerance policy toward any attacks on the NYPD. A visibly progressive DA with a national name for being the man who indicted former President Donald Trump, Bragg certainly has the makings of a rallying cry for disaffected New Yorkers.
“The criminal justice system is in large measure inoperative at this point,” O’Donnell argued. “Nobody’s pulling the wool over New Yorkers’ eyes. The police have been sidelined, people who are supposed to be prosecuting are not prosecuting.”
“It’s useless, certainly for lesser crimes, to even report the crimes,” O’Donnell added. “Why would you seek relief from a system that is officially telling you crimes are of no consequence?”
