Police activity in New York City remained at a lower level last week than during the same period in past years, but continued its rise since enforcement came to a near standstill, the result of a citywide slowdown tied to the killings of two officers in December.

While arrests and tickets have yet to reach the same levels as in the past, the rebound points to a resumption of work by the New York Police Department. One area of policing continues to lag others, however: criminal summonses.

These tickets address quality of life issues, such as loitering or drinking in public, and their continuing reduction could be seen as a repudiation of the police commissioner, William J. Bratton, according to some experts. The commissioner has made the “broken windows” style of policing a pillar of his strategy to keep crime at record lows, an approach that has angered some community activists because they argue it still disproportionately targets minority communities.

Beat officers may now be feeling some of that frustration, too.

“Probably before the death of Eric Garner and the renewed pressure against broken windows, most police officers were taking a fairly broad view of what they should pursue,” said Thomas Reppetto, the former president of the Citizens Crime Commission and a former police officer in Chicago. “Now, perhaps they’re taking a second look at these tickets, which I think a lot of people appreciate, not just them, and they’re questioning whether it really furthers public safety or not.”