Photo Courtesy of Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
Mayor de Blasio and Commissioner Bill Bratton take a question during Tuesday’s press conference.
By Michael V. Cusenza
The City experienced the safest summer – in overall crimes reported – in the entire CompStat-era that began more than 20 years ago, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Police Department.
There were 1,610 fewer crimes reported during the three main summer months in 2016, or a 5 percent decrease, compared with the same period in 2015. This also marks a 73 percent decrease, or 73,463 fewer crimes, compared with the same period in 1994 – the initial year CompStat was implemented during Police Commissioner Bill Bratton’s first tenure leading the NYPD for Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
According to the NYPD, for August 2016, each category of index crime experienced a decrease – resulting in 957 fewer total index crimes reported, or a 9 percent reduction, compared with August 2015. Murder is down one crime, or -2.9 percent for the month, compared with August 2015. Also for August 2016: rape is down 10 crimes, or -6.7 percent; robbery is down 247 crimes, or -15 percent; felonious assault is down 162 crimes, or -7.6 percent; burglary is down 289 crimes, or -20 percent; grand larceny is down 224 crimes, or -5.4 percent; and grand larceny auto is down 23 crimes, or -3.3 percent.
Tuesday marked Bratton’s final crime press briefing. According to the department, there were 1,946 murders in 1993. There were 352 murders in 2015. In calculating the annual reduction in murders over the ensuing two decades, it can be inferred that approximately 28,800 fewer murders have occurred in the five boroughs since Bratton first implemented CompStat with the late-Jack Maple in 1994.
“CompStat changed how police view crime problems,” Denise O’Donnell, director, Bureau of Justice Assistance, and Chuck Wexler, executive director, Police Executive Research Forum, wrote in the Foreword to the report “CompStat: Its Origins, Evolution, and Future in Law Enforcement Agencies.” “Instead of merely responding to crimes after they are committed, police fundamentally expanded their mission to include preventing crimes from happening in the first place. CompStat helps to achieve that mission. Essentially, a CompStat program requires police to gather timely, accurate information about crime patterns, and then respond quickly to break up those patterns.”
“Detractors said it couldn’t be done. We have further reduced violence and serious crime across this city, yet again,” Bratton said. “The tremendous focus on a small group of criminals has resulted in these unprecedented declines in crime – as violence has increased in other American cities significantly. To the men and women of this Department, thank you for what you do every day to make this the safest big city in America.”
De Blasio added, “Our city just experienced the safest summer since the NYPD broke ground with CompStat more than two decades ago. It is clear from our success this summer that neighborhood policing works. Commissioner Bill Bratton has helped make our city the safest big city in America. We owe the Commissioner an extraordinary debt of gratitude for the lives he has saved and the security he has brought neighborhoods across our five boroughs. While the achievements of Commissioner Bratton can never be replicated, I have never been more confident in the future of the NYPD than I am today knowing that Chief Jimmy O’Neill will continue the department’s focus on precision and neighborhood policing as we deepen the bond between officers and the communities they serve and protect.”
