Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
NYC's Murder Rate Went Down in 2012, But Is The NYPD Really Responsible?
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Jan 25, 2013
Modified Jan 25, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
NYCMayorsOffice's Flickr
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Jan 25, 2013
Modified Jan 25, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Last month, Mayor Bloomberg got all braggy about the city's 2012 murder rate dropping to the lowest level ever recorded, and lauded the NYPD—but it turns out Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and co. might not have had much to do with it. NPR recently asked a couple experts what the new numbers mean, and found aggressive police tactics like much-debated stop-and-frisk aren't necessarily the answer to lower crime rates.
The city saw 414 recorded homicides in 2012, down considerably from 2010's 536 and 2011's 515. But while Kelly and Bloomberg attributed the downtick to NYPD programs like Operation Impact, other factors besides that specific policy are probably responsible. "If you're gonna make the assumption that changes in crime rates always are responding to policies," Franklin Zimring, a law professor at UC Berkeley, told NPR, "then why shouldn't we be blaming the police for the slight increases [in New York's murder rate] in 2010 and 2011?"
Though Kelly made the point that if the NYPD ceased stop-and-frisk tactics—which many argue are unconstitutional—we'd all face a future filled with gun-wielding murder-robbers at every street corner, there are other ways to lower the crime rate. "If you look at the 50-year perspective, there are cities across the spectrum [where] crime rates have gone back to what their 1960 levels were, without having to resort to these tactics," Jeffrey Fagan, a law professor at Columbia University, told NPR. And as a matter of fact, stop-and-frisk stops dropped considerably last year.
So are New Yorkers really any safer now than they were in 2011, or is the murder rate drop just a one-time coincidence? Murder and crime stats have been dropping significantly since the 1990s (though overall crime rates did go up a little last year) so it's probably safe to say we don't live in the Bad Old Days anymore. On the other hand, it's still a little risky to daydream on the subway with your precious iPad on your lap.
Tagged
crime stats
Kelly
mayor bloomberg
murder
NPR
nypd
Ray Kelly
stop and frisk
Rebecca Fishbein
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Central Park birders, others remember 63-year-old woman killed in park
People who said they knew her described her as an artist and a familiar presence in the Ramble.
By
Charles Lane
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 7:04 p.m. ET
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
News
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .