Mayor: City Drives Drop in U.S. Murder Rate
The drop in the nation's homicide rate can be attributed to homicide statistics in New York City, Mayor Bloomberg and the police commissioner, Raymond Kelly, said yesterday.
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New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly speaks as Mayor Bloomberg looks on during a news conference in Washington in July 2007.
Referring to an annual FBI report detailing crime rates around the country, Mr. Kelly said that without New York's record low murder rate last year, the overall national homicide rate would not have declined in 2007.
"Without the 17 percent decline in murders in New York City, murder nationwide would have been flat, not down," Mr. Bloomberg said in a statement.
The FBI reported 15,707 murders around the country in 2007, down 1.7% from 15,972 in 2006. In New York City, murders dropped to 496 in 2007, from 596 in 2006, a 17% decrease that accounted for about 38% of the nationwide decline in homicides. Crime dropped 2.7% in New York City overall in that period.
"The scale of crime prevention by the men and women of the NYPD was such that it drove down the national murder rate last year," Mr. Kelly said in a statement. "It coincided with continued advances in crime fighting, counterterrorism, and quality of life enforcement made possible by the professionalism of our police officers."
New York City was the safest major city in the country in 2007, according to FBI statistics, with 2,423 crimes per 100,000 residents. Among the largest 245 cities in the country, just 15 boasted lower crime rates than New York in 2007.
