Crime continued to fall across the five boroughs during April, the NYPD reported Monday.
The overall 4.9% decrease in major felonies around the five boroughs — nearly 500 fewer major crimes from the April 2023 total — also included a substantial 23% reduction in transit crime, according to the NYPD’s statistics.
Murders fell in April by 30.3%, the NYPD reported, with 23 slayings reported last month — 10 fewer than the total reported in April 2023. Another violent crime, felony assaults, also fell during the month by 1.9%, with 2,270 such incidents reported — down from 2,314 in April 2023.
Shootings also continued to plummet citywide, the NYPD reported, with 15.5% fewer incidents and 65 fewer people wounded in shootings last month as compared to April 2023. NYPD members also continue to get guns off the streets at a fierce clip; April 2024 saw more than 581 firearms seized by the department, for a total of 2,189 seized guns during the first four months of the year.
Decreases were reported in auto thefts (down 10.9%, with 1,134 cases against 1,273 incidents in April 2024); burglary (down 10.6%, 1,003 incidents) and grand larceny (down 6.9%, with 3,772 incidents).
However, on the flip side, hate crimes have continued to increase in April, driven in large part to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. There were apparently 64 hate crimes last month, compared to 46 last year. Exactly half of the 64 hate crimes were driven by antisemitic acts, police said.
Additionally, there was a vast increase in arrests – outside of protests – in April, with 227 for major crimes – a 5.4 percent climb compared to the same month last year.
So far this year, the NYPD has arrested 1,624 more people than in 2023, which the department credits toward “precision-policing,” focusing on illegal vending, prostitution, and unlawful motorized scooters and bikes.
“Managing crowds and ensuring protesters’ First Amendment rights is just one aspect of professional policing,” top cop Edward Caban said. “Whether it is a large-scale, pre-planned event or an impromptu demonstration centered at a New York City institution of higher learning, the men and women of the NYPD efficiently handle everything they face with dignity and dedication. And New Yorkers should also be proud that, in every neighborhood, their police officers continue to achieve extraordinary results in the areas of crime prevention and mitigation. They truly are the best at what they do, and they will never be deterred from their primary mission of public-safety.”
