Despite a growing rift between certain strata of society and the police in New York City that we are seeing over the last few months due to some questionable police practices and court decisions, the fact remains that the year 2014 will be a hallmark year in the history of crime-fighting in NYC, with the lowest number of homicides since 1963.
In 2014, NYC was faced with 328 killings, which is a drop from 335 in the year 2013 and the lowest number recorded since the records have started being kept in 1963. For comparison, the highest number of murders was in 1990, with 2,245.
Other crimes have also been on the decline in NYC, like for instance robberies which dropped to record 16,326, an almost 15% drop from 2013. The record year for robberies was 1981, with 107,495 recorded. The only crime that increased in 2014 were car thefts, mostly due to a loophole which made it possible for older cars to be junked with almost no paperwork.
Mr. William J. Bratton, the new Police Commissioner is the person that most experts single out as the most responsible for the new ways in which crime in the city is tackled, involving certain advanced techniques and analyses.
However, the celebrations are glaringly absent as the city of New York is still embroiled in the case of Eric Garner, while the police mourns the recent deaths of two members of the force.
