AP Photo Overall crime and shootings are down

Last week, when Donald Trump said he would use stop-and-frisk to combat crime in places like Chicago, he pointed to New York City as proof that the strategy works. Critics were quick to point out — as POLITICO New York reported — that crime has remained near record-low levels since the NYPD began reducing its widespread usage of the technique starting in 2011.

The NYPD on Monday released weekly crime figures showing the city is as safe as it has ever been, without stop-and-frisk.


There were six murders reported in the city from Sept. 19 through Sept. 25, bringing the total for the year to 252. That is a 5.3 percent decline from this point last year, when there were 266 murders, according to NYPD figures. The number of murders is down by 34 percent compared to five years ago, when the NYPD reported its highest number of stop-and-frisks encounters.

So far this year, crime is down 2.9 percent in the seven major categories known as index crimes. That drop was led by the decline in murders as well as a 7 percent decline in robberies, a 12.6 percent decline in car thefts and a 13.5 percent drop in burglaries. Today's overall crime figure is also 3.7 percent lower than in 2011.

Gun violence also is down in New York City.

Last week there were 17 people shot in 16 separate incidents around the city. So far this year there have been 913 people shot in 765 incidents, compared to 1,033 victims in 869 incidents last year representing declines of 11.6 and 12 percent, respectively. Today's figures also represent a 32.6 percent drop in shooting victims, and a 30.7 percent drop in shooting incidents, compared to 2011.

Bucking this downward trend, however, was a 2.4 percent rise in the number of rapes compared to last year. There have been 11,231 rapes reported as of Sept. 25, up from 1,062 a year earlier. Misdemeanor sexual crimes are also up — from 2,312 at this point a year ago to 2,496 now, an 8 percent rise. Police officials have said the rise in these reports is due, in part, to more victims alerting authorities of their attacks, rather than letting the incidents go unreported. Rapes are up 3.5 percent compared to five years ago; misdemeanor sexual crimes are up 12.7 percent, compared to five years ago.

There were also 3.5 percent more felony assaults so far this year and 1 percent more grand larcenies.

The decrease in crime has come alongside a decrease in enforcement. Police stops have decreased dramatically from their peak; there were 4,056 police stops in the first three months of 2016, 98 percent fewer than the first three months of 2012.

And so far this year there have been 7.5 percent fewer arrests than the same time last year, 21.1 percent fewer than two years ago and 23.7 percent fewer than five years ago. Also, there have been 10 percent fewer criminal summonses compared to last year, 28.1 percent fewer than two years ago and 44.9 percent fewer than five years ago.

