By Elizabeth Keogh
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — Shootings and homicides citywide dropped last month, even as other major crimes including robbery and grand larceny continued to spike, police said Tuesday.
Shootings decreased last month by about 30% — there were 115 incidents, compared to 165 in August 2021 — with the Bronx, southern Queens and northern Brooklyn in particular seeing marked declines, cops said. For the year to date, shootings have dropped about 12%, according to the NYPD.
Meanwhile, August homicides went down about 54%, with 27 people killed, stats showed. That’s compared to 59 murders in the same month in 2021. For the year to date, murders are down about 12%.
Still, almost every other major crime category increased in August — continuing an alarming trend so far this year — according to NYPD stats. The Police Department classifies murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, grand larceny and car theft as major crimes.
Overall, those categories increased by 26% with five of the seven major crimes seeing upticks, cops said.
Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell focused on the positive news in the latest stats — and took a shot at the controversial state bail reforms that Mayor Adams has blamed for the city’s crime woes.
“We know there is much more work to be done to address crime in our city,” Sewell said. “We must push forward as we continue to advocate for further refinements to the state’s well-meaning criminal justice reforms that too many recidivists and violent criminals exploit.”
The NYPD has seized more than 4,800 guns so far this year, she noted.
Last month, 405 people were arrested for firearm possession, an uptick of 16% compared to August 2021.
As of Aug. 31, police have made 3,170 gun-related arrests this year.
Last month’s overall rise in crime was driven by a 38% increase in robbery, a nearly 35% increase in grand larceny and a roughly 31% rise in burglary. The NYPD reported a slight uptick in rape incidents — 118, up four from August 2021.
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