Facing a wave of random street and subway violence, a deepening migrant crisis and the fatal shooting last month of an officer during a routine traffic stop, New York City Police Commissioner Edward Caban insists the country’s largest city remains safe.
“It’s the perception versus reality,” Caban said Monday in a wide-ranging interview as he marks nearly nine months leading the 33,000-member New York Police Department.
“You know, we could tell people all the time that I’m going to show more numbers. Yes, we are heading in the right direction for crime,” Caban added. “But to someone’s reality, someone who has been a victim of a crime, it tells a different story. And that’s one of the things we’re struggling with right now.”
The latest data compiled by the police department indicates that crime was down overall in the first quarter of 2024 and that it dropped last month from the year before: Murders were down 19%, burglaries fell 17%, and grand larcenies dipped 7%.
Shooting incidents were down almost 26% in March from the year before, amounting to 29 fewer shooting victims and more arrests for illegal possession of a firearm, police said.
But some types of crime increased last month over March 2023, including rape, with 16 more incidents reported this year, bringing the total to 148, as well as felony assaults, which increased by 118, to 2,278.
