Bloomberg Lied: Crime Went Up Last Year
Crime is poised to climb in New York City for the first time in two decades. The uptick is all but certain, despite 11th-hour scrambling by police to keep their record-smashing crime-fighting streak intact.
That effort included Commissioner Ray Kelly’s considering an unprecedented sit-down with trouble-spot precincts just days before New Year’s and demanding updates from across the city as the final week of 2011 unfolded.
In the end, however, Kelly and Mayor Michael Bloomberg pre-empted any countdown drama by proclaiming victory on Wednesday. Crime for the year was down 1.2 percent, the mayor announced, or would be if a change in the law in 2011 that made one type of strangulation a felony is factored out.
Still, the mayor’s numbers left experts scratching their heads. If the city logged about 1,300 of these new strangulation cases and the year continued on its pace for at least 1,300 more felonies, the year-end crime total would at best be flat, not down.
Particularly when one factors in a little-known component of NYPD number crunching. The cops commonly tack on hundreds of felonies to each year’s total, months afterward, by reclassifying crimes.
At the end of 2010, for example, the NYPD reported 105,115 crimes. Now it’s reporting 105,633, or 518 more felonies, for that year.
As it stands now, 1 Police Plaza counted 105,361 crimes through Dec. 25. Tomorrow, when the final stats for 2011 are counted, just 272 felonies will break the streak and trigger the first increase in New York City crime in 19 years.
“It’s stable at a modern low, and that’s the important thing,” said Franklin Zimring, a UC Berkeley law professor whose research hailing Kelly’s accomplishments was referenced by Bloomberg during their press conference.
“If you want to worry about anything, it’s that the rest of the country is in an even bigger downturn. Over the last few years, New York is losing its unique position as a Guinness Book record holder. Other cities are getting closer, and LA is catching up faster than anyone else.
“But as long as your streets are safe, who cares? People want to know they can celebrate New Year’s Eve in Central Park,” said Zimring.
OWS and our safe streets
A lot of police were assigned to deal with the OWS protestors, and there was a spike in crime because of the diversion of police resources during that time. New Year’s eve they were at it again, trying to “retake” Zuccotti Park, intentionally at a time when the NYPD has it’s hands most full. These people will NEVER be satisfied that they’ve made their point already, and whatever the cost may be to the people who live and work here, as far as they’re concerned, so be it. Also, great quote from Franklin Zimring “..as long as your streets are safe, who cares?” Hey Franklin, the streets may be better than they once were, but they still aren’t safe! Maybe when YOU or one of YOUR family is a crime victim in NYC you’ll have a bit of a different perspective and attitude! Another brilliant Berkely, CA professor…
A mom
Surprise!!! This is so funny, did anyone really believe was crime was down???
Who-s Counting?
Crime stats should not be counted by the police department, who’s great idea is this? if they are applauded for lowering the stats why are they entrusted with counting them? there should be another system in place which deals with the counting of crimes, for example based on 911 calls etc. with the proper filters in place for filtering out the pranks. Then there should be a comparison between crimes committed and crimes dealt with by the police. Maybe that way the cops will actually respond when there is a crime instead of burying the facts.