NYPD: Murder Rate Lowest In Past 45 Years; Operation Impact Is Cited by Kelly And Gets 914 Cops

By REUVEN BLAU

For the first time in at least 45 years, the city finished the year on course for fewer than 500 homicides due to innovative police tactics, Mayor Bloomberg said Dec. 26.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: Eye on domestic violence.

"Crime is down significantly in virtually every category," he told reporters gathered in Harlem's 28th Precinct.

According to the NYPD, as of that date, there were 484 homicides in 2007, on pace to fall well below the 548 murders in 1963, the low mark until now for which data is available.

Kelly Impressed

"This is really a phenomenal number," Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly asserted after the press conference.

Mayor Bloomberg said that the decrease coincided with an intensive, five-year effort the NYPD has undertaken to prevent domestic violence, which includes sending specially trained Detectives back to homes where such complaints have been filed.

"The key is to stop violent crimes before they end in tragedies," he remarked, standing near streaming holiday decorations hanging from the ceiling.

RAYMOND KELLY: 'Phenomenal work.'

Mr. Kelly pointed to the department's Operation Impact program, which floods high-crime areas with new recruits, as the main reason for the continued reductions.

He announced that the 914 recruits from last week's graduating class will all be assigned to that program to help continue to depress crime in certain "pockets" of Brooklyn and The Bronx that have experienced a spike.

Scaleback Fears Dashed

In the past, the NYPD had assigned two-thirds of each class to Impact Zones, but a reduction in projected attrition allowed the department to shift all the new officers, Mr. Kelly said. "Operation Impact is alive and well," he asserted.

Previously, Mr. Kelly warned that the department's current recruitment woes due largely to the starting salary of $25,100 for recruits during their first six months of training could force the NYPD to scale back the program.

The NYPD's targeted manpower is 37,838 officers, but including last week's class it currently has 35,415 cops - about 5,000 fewer that when Mr. Bloomberg assumed office in 2002. "The low starting salary has been a major impediment as far as hiring is concerned," Mr. Kelly said following the Dec. 27 graduation.

A New York University report released six months ago found that Operation Impact has played a key role in helping the department continue to reduce crime despite the dwindling number of patrol cops.

A 20-Point Impact

The NYU study concluded that precincts that were assigned Impact Zones beginning in 2003 experienced a decrease in the murder rate of 24 percent more than the citywide average, an additional 23-percent drop in assaults, and an extra 21-percent reduction in robberies.

But Eugene O'Donnell, a Professor of Law and Police Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, has noted that other areas such as Rochester, New York have used similar tactics with less success.

After last week's graduation, Commissioner Kelly said that the program has worked for the NYPD because the department is larger than any other police force in the nation and has the ability to assign large numbers of officers to troubled regions.

The department also has used a "sophisticated analysis" to determine where exactly the officers should be placed, he added. "We are helped to a large extent by the energy of the new officers," he remarked, while standing on confetti sprayed on the new recruits following the ceremony. "They want to be there."

Where They're Detailed

According to the NYPD, there are now 1,800 officers in Impact Zones, which is more than double the previous amount. They are patrolling sections of Brownsville, Bedford-Stuyvesant, East New York, and Crown Heights in Brooklyn and tiny areas of other boroughs.

The department was able to move all the officers to Operation Impact because of the lower number of projected retirements this year, due to the reduced amount of hiring in the late 1980s, following the October 1987 stock market crash. Over the past several years, the NYPD's attrition rate was close to 3,000 officers, but that number is expected to decrease as fewer officers become eligible to retire with their full pensions after 20 years of service, Mr. Kelly said.

The latest crime figures were announced at a press conference in Harlem's 28th Precinct, where there were three homicides this year, a 73-percent decline since 2006, and a total 23-percent decrease in crime. In previous decades, there were consistently 100 homicides a year in the area, Mr. Kelly said.

Subway Crime Also Dips

Mayor Bloomberg noted that subway crime and major felonies also will reach historical lows based on the latest figures. Major felony crime declined over 6 percent citywide compared to the same period in 2006, he said.

In addition, subway crime fell 13 percent below last year's numbers. In 1990, there was an average of 48 major crimes per day in the transit system. In contrast, in 2007 there was an average of only six, based on initial figures.

The decrease comes as average weekday ridership in October was 5.3 million, an increase of 4.7 percent from last October and the highest such ridership of any month in over 35 years, the city said.