You know those relatives who offer to buy you mace, or grimace in fear when you tell them about walking alone after dark in Park Slope? Well, here are some statistics to wave at them. In 2014, the violent crime rate in New York City is the lowest that it’s ever been. That’s right: The last 11 months have had historically low levels of robberies, murders, grand larcenies, and all the other nasty surprises that your great-aunt Rose warned you about when you moved here.
That announcement was via good old Mayor De Blasio and Bill Bratton at the Ingersoll housing development in Fort Greene. The record-low homicide rate of 2013 dipped even lower this year, and robberies are down 14 percent. Shootings were up 4 percent over last year, but a spike in gun-related crime that occurred earlier in the summer was quickly squelched.
De Blasio didn’t hesitate to take credit for the good news. After 11 months, New Yorkers can see a place “that is more unified,” he said, according to the New York Times. Well…maybe. We’re still willing to bet that no one is about to agree on which slice place is the best. But at least there’s no immediate threat of the plot of Escape From New York happening.
