Though Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD brass took victory laps Wednesday amid reports that crime drastically dropped in 2023, those rates were still far higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic hit New York nearly four years ago.
Hizzoner helmed a panel made up of top police officials inside of the department’s headquarters on Jan. 3 where the collective group unveiled the crime statistics for both December and 2023 as a whole.
According to NYPD statistics, shootings dropped by 24.7%, resulting in 320 fewer incidents. Cops apparently arrested 4,400 people for possession of illegal guns while 6,500 illegal firearms were confiscated throughout the year.
Additionally, murder reportedly fell by 11.9%, from 438 incidents in 2022 to 386 last year. While robbery increased in the past month by 22.1%, overall, it decreased by 3.1% for the year compared to 2022. Grand larceny-auto rose for the year by 15% as well as felony assaults by 6.3% for the overall year, which cops attribute to attacks on police officers.
Arrests for major index crimes across the city increased by 9.5% (4,162 vs. 3,802) in December, and for the year rose by 11.8%. Additionally, arrests in all crime categories increased by 19.5% for 2023.
NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force stats show that bias crimes dropped by 5% (618 v. 650 cases) for the year, but increased by 26% (59 vs. 47) in December. More than half of the bias incidents in December were antisemitic, continuing an upward trend of anti-Jewish crimes since the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks on Israel.
Inside of New York City Public Housing complexes overall crime rose 3.1% for the year, while in the city’s transit system crime decreased by 2.6%.
“Our city is in a different place now,” Mayor Adams said. “The promise that we made and the promise that we kept is real. And I promise that it has saved lives.”
Devil in the details
While the crime numbers have made a dramatic downward trend over the last several years, they still sit above pre-pandemic levels of 2019. Crime rates, however, are higher than at the culmination of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration.
According to Ben Max of the New York Law School, the total number of major felonies in 2023 was about 33% higher than it was in 2019. The 386 murders reported in 2023 were also 67 more than the number tallied four years ago.
While progress was made in the fight against crime between 2022 and 2023, a two-year comparison of data from the NYPD showed increases in robberies, felony assaults, burglaries, grand larcenies and auto thefts since 2021 — the final year of de Blasio’s term as mayor.
Between 2021 and 2023, the NYPD reported a 22.5% increase in crime.
When asked about the stats in 2023 vs 2019, NYPD Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael Lipetri appeared to point the finger of blame at bail reform.
“It’s been talked about what happened in 2020, with the change in the criminal justice process,” Lipetri began. “In the second part of 2019 when a lot of these reforms were already put in place, crime started going up six months prior to the actual reforms.”
Mayor Adams also commented on what he called quality of life improvements. While seemingly recognizing the criticism levied his way for the infamous homeless encampment sweeps. Adams brought up a photo of a homeless encampment, flashing it around the room.
“They say I am harsh because I don’t allow this to exist. That’s what I am fighting against. Do you want this in front of your house? You want your children to see this?” Adams asked. “Not while I am mayor.”
