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NYPD: Crime Down, Rape Up In The First Quarter of 2011
By
Garth Johnston
Published Apr 4, 2011
Modified Apr 4, 2011
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Apr 4, 2011
Modified Apr 4, 2011
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The NYPD has released its weekly crime statistics for the last week of March, which means we now have crime statistics from the first quarter of 2011 to mull over. The good news? For 2011, crime is down with only 88 murders reported so far (compared with 111 this time last year)—thirty-one of the city's 76 precincts have yet to even see a murder this year. Shootings are down too, with only 271 reported so far, compared to 315 last year. The bad news? One area that hasn't seen anything close to a decline is rape. This year there have already been 340 rapes reported, a 24 percent increase from last year and a 32.8 percent increase from 2009.
Brooklyn saw the most reported rapes last year with 97 reported, followed by Manhattan with 86. So why the jump? The NYPD is partially attributing the rise to a change in the way the city handles the oft-unreported crime. Last December the NYPD changed things around so that special victims detectives would be the first to respond to reported sex crimes. Last year there were a total of 534 rape complaints filed with the department. The NYPD expects the numbers to stay up this year.
"Commissioner Kelly believes it is an underreported crime," NYPD spokesman Paul Browne told the News. "Any increase is regrettable, but the fact that in 87% of reported rapes, the assailant was an acquaintance or relative of the victim indicates a willingness of victims to come forward, even when they know their assailant."
Meanwhile, in case you were curious, the 90th Preinct in Williamsburg has seen the biggest jump in crime this year. While there have been no murders, there's a jump in shootings (up to five from one last year) along with rapes, robberies, assaults and grand larceny auto complaints, led the area to a 19.6 percent jump in crime from last year.
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