By Colleen Long
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — New York City is on track to have fewer than 500 murders this year - the lowest number of homicides recorded since reliable record-keeping started in 1963.
There were 457 murders reported as of Dec. 11, about 16 percent fewer than at this time last year, according to police statistics. Rapes, robberies and burglaries were also down, and felony assaults were holding steady, at about 16,200 for the past two years.
New York City’s homicide rate reached an all-time high of 2,245 in 1990, making it the murder capital of the United States at the time. Since then, the rate has plummeted, and experts attribute the decline in part to the police department’s CompStat program, which tracks crime statistics on a daily basis.
Officials also credit the drop to moves made by New York Police Department Commissioner Raymond Kelly, who put nearly two-thirds of all graduating police in areas known to have more crime, instead of splitting them evenly throughout the precincts.
In addition, proactive policing and follow up in domestic violence cases is cited as a factor in the drop.
About 8 percent of the murders committed in the city have been attributed to domestic violence so far this year, compared with about 12 percent over the past five years, said Kathy Ryan, head of the NYPD’s domestic violence unit.
Dennis Smith, a professor at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service who studied police tactics in the past five years, says the NYPD’S close attention to detail is why crime has continued to decrease in the city, compared with many other large cities where it is rising.