News Shooting

Police investigate at the scene of a shooting on Metcalfe Street in Stapleton Sunday, June 28, 2015.

(Staten Island Advance/Bill Lyons)

CITY HALL -- A summer initiative intended to curb crime has made slow progress on the North Shore.

Thirty officers were temporarily reassigned to Staten Island's 120th precinct as part of the NYPD "Summer All Out" program. The North Shore was included in the citywide initiative amid a spree of shootings and stabbings in local neighborhoods.

Since the program was launched on the North Shore June 8, there have been three shootings, according to the NYPD. There were also three shootings during the same period last summer.

Overall "index" crime is up by 11 complaints in the 120th precinct. The NYPD tracks seven major "index" crimes, including murder, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, grand larceny and grand larceny auto.

The rise is a slight increase of 9.2 percent over the same weeks last summer.

NYPD Chief of Department James O'Neill said that this doesn't mean the initiative won't eventually lead to better results on the North Shore this year.

"I imagine by the end of the summer months, the 120 will be definitely headed in the right direction," he said.

The program is said to still have an impact on the North Shore, even if that doesn't translate to fewer crimes.

"There's positive change because there's more police officers on the street," O'Neill said. "You know, we can't just do this day to day. We have to look over a longer period of time."

This contradicted Mayor Bill de Blasio's own remarks less than an hour earlier at the same event in the Bronx. De Blasio pointed to a 29 percent decrease in shootings across all 10 precincts that were targeted in "Summer All Out" since the program launched last month.

A week before the officers were redeployed to higher-crime areas, de Blasio said he was confident police would curb a spike in murders and shootings.

"We're in a position now to say 'Summer All Out' is working," de Blasio said on Wednesday. "It's having a very positive impact on the safety of New Yorkers all over the city."

'SAFEST BIG CITY IN AMERICA'

Crime is up somewhat in the 120th precinct, according to NYPD statistics through Sunday.

The number of murders in the North Shore precinct so far this year -- six -- is the same as that time period last year. But shootings there have increased, from 12 to 17.

Overall "index" crimes also saw a bump in the 120th precinct, increasing from 586 to 600 so far this year.

Shootings are up across Staten Island, too, from 26 so far this year compared to 19 in the same span of 2014. Borough murders are down, from 10 to 8, and overall "index" crime dropped just 1.3 percent.

Still, crime numbers are so low on Staten Island that experts caution against drawing year-to-year trends for the borough.

Even amid a few small spikes this year, crime citywide is down and well below numbers from a few decades ago.

"We are the safest big city in America," de Blasio said. "We will continue to be. We will, in fact, go farther."

POLICE REFORMS

Both the mayor and NYPD Commissioner William Bratton said on Wednesday that recent law enforcement reforms will make the city safer by improving relations between police and the communities they serve.

The city will eventually expand a police body camera program already in place in the 120th precinct. NYPD training practices were reshaped, with officers instructed on how to de-escalate street conflicts.

De Blasio said that the death of Eric Garner in police custody informed some recent policy changes made by the NYPD.

"We turn that tragedy into a focal point for change and improvement and reform," de Blasio said.

One key reform is a new neighborhood policing plan outlined by Bratton last month. The strategy will use new tactics and staffing changes to lift morale among officers and boost community confidence in police.

Select precincts will be divided into sectors with dedicated police assigned to those areas.

"With that, we will continue to try and push down the crime, the disorder, but most importantly, improve relationships between police and community," Bratton said.