De Blasio, Bratton announce crime is down, and body cams to pilot this week

Made announcement at Brooklyn housing project

December 2, 2014 By Mary Frost Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Mayor Bill de Blasio (left) and Police Commissioner Bratton (second from left) announced on Tuesday that crime in NYC was way down over the past four months. Photo by Demetrius Freeman/Mayoral Photography Office

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Mayor de Blasio and Police Commissioner William Bratton announced on Tuesday that crime has plunged in New York City over the last four months.

Arrest figures show the “safest August to November period” since modern crime statistics began in 1993, de Blasio said.

De Blasio and Bratton also announced that the NYPD body camera pilot program will begin this week, starting in three commands where stop-and-frisk rates have been highest. These are Police Service Area 2, which patrols 42 public housing developments in Brooklyn; the 40th Precinct in the Bronx, and the 120th Precinct in Staten Island.

Part of the downward trend in crime stats reflects a 61.2 percent decrease in low-level marijuana arrests since last month, when a new policy went into effect. Users caught with small amounts of pot now receive a summons instead of being arrested.

But pot arrests account for only part of the decline. The stats show a 4.4 percent decrease in crime overall: Homicides in New York City decreased by 6.8 percent; robbery was down 14.4 percent; and rape was down 2.9 percent during this four-month time period, de Blasio and Bratton said.

This August through November also had the lowest number of shooting incidents and homicides since 1993, as compared to previous August through November periods.

Subways and buses are safer as well. In transit, overall crime decreased by 13.8 percent, and robbery has decreased by 29 percent.

“We will continue to build on our efforts to strengthen the bond between our police officers and communities they service, working to keep New York the safest big city in the nation,” de Blasio said in a release.

De Blasio made the announcement after returning from a weekend meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. about ways that police can form better relationships in communities in the wake of the Ferguson shooting.

De Blasio and Bratton made the announcement at Ingersoll Houses in Fort Greene, where crime has decreased by 18.6 percent. Ingersoll is one of the facilities where the administration invested $210 million for NYCHA anti-violence programs, de Blasio said.