Crime jumped in the first month of the year — driven by an uptick in robberies, assaults, stolen cars and burglaries — reversing a downward trend that had New York City heading in the “right direction” at the end of 2022 according to NYPD brass.
Major crime in the Big Apple increased by 4.1%, with 10,067 complaints, in January compared to the same time last year, when 9,672 of the major seven felonies were recorded, according to NYPD statistics released Friday evening.
Felony assaults fueled the increase, surging to 2056 complaints, a 14.9% increase from last year, according to the data.
Robberies and burglaries jumped by 5.3%, 1,332 vs 1,265, and 7.2%, 1298 vs 1211, respectively, the data shows.
There was also a 5.1% jump in grand larceny autos with 1,223 reported last month compared to 1,164 over the same time last year.
Compared to before the pandemic descended on New York, the figures are even more staggering, with NYPD data showing a more than 20% increase in major crime between last month and January 2020.
The news comes as subway crime, a major issue last year, dropped by nearly 30% last month — and weeks after Hizzoner and his Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell took touted the progress in crime fighting at the end of 2022.
“I think we are trending in the right direction,” Sewell said at a press conference with Adams in late December.
Crime dropped in each of the last two months of 2022, which city officials believed was an early sign that the NYPD was reversing many of the COVID-era trends that sent crime soaring at an unprecedented rate.
The city’s top cop highlighted, in a press release Friday, that the NYPD’s focus on gun violence has led to a 26.3% decrease in shooting incidents last month, 73 vs 99, with 24 fewer victims of the violence.
Those tallies show the city saw shooting levels last month near pre-pandemic levels. The Big Apple logged just five fewer shootings in January 2020, with 67, data shows.
“As we step forward through 2023 and beyond, the women and men of the New York City Police Department are continuing to effectively and efficiently suppress violence, address the drivers of crime, and safeguard our streets and our subways,” Sewell said.
“More work, however, is required when it comes to certain categories of crime, and we are determined in our efforts to reverse these trends,” she conceded.
Adams and his police leadership have repeatedly pointed the finger at rampant recidivists for much of the increase in crime last year due to controversial 2019 criminal justice reforms.
In his State of the City speech last month, the mayor vowed to increase funding to the city’s District Attorneys’ Offices and lobby Gov. Hochul for the same to help deal with the discovery burden that has led to an increase in criminal case dismissals under the reforms.
Hochul’s proposed budget released Monday provides $40 million in extra funding for more prosecutors and another $40 to help the criminal justice system meet the discovery requirement.
