Murder on the Rise in Brooklyn
While homicides are down all over the city from this time last year, there’s been a small increase in murders in Brooklyn, the Wall Street Journal reports. The borough is policed in two sections: Brooklyn North, which includes Brooklyn Heights to East New York and everything north, and Brooklyn South, which includes the rest of the borough, from Boerum Hill to Canarsie and everything south. It’s in the latter that homicides have risen, the only patrol in the city to do so: murders are up 23 percent from this time in 2012—37 compared to 30. In contrast, Brooklyn North has had 39 murders so far this year, down from 57 at this point in 2012. The Bronx is at 38 compared to 58. Many are downplaying the significance because the numbers were so low last year. “If you’re looking to get No. 1 again, you’re looking for impossibilities. You can only go backwards from one,” one police source told the paper. “The police are working against whatever success they had in the past. You’re fighting against your own numbers,” a professor at John Jay said. Granted, the difference is seven, which seems small (though, you know, those are seven people who are dead forever). And, though murders are up, shootings are actually down. But given that the number of homicides is down by as much as 20 in every other region of the city, the rise seems significant, as well. Certain neighborhoods have had larger increases than others.
