The number of police stops in New York City has continued its steep decline in 2014. Contrary to warnings, however, the city still hasn't descended into a crime-ridden 1970s version of itself. In fact, the rate of murders and other serious crimes has also dropped.
Although exact numbers haven't been released, police sources tell DNAinfo's Murray Weiss that the number of NYPD stops for the first quarter of 2014 will be lower than the last quarter of 2013. In that quarter, there were 12,495 stops — an 86 percent drop from the same period in 2012, when there were 89,620 stops. And yet, so far this year, there have been only 44 murders, an 18 percent drop from the 54 murders during the same period in 2013, Weiss reports. The number of shootings has fallen 13.5 percent, from 145 during the same period in 2013, to 128. And the number of rapes and robberies dropped 7 percent compared to the same time last year. According to DNAinfo, the number of assaults and car thefts were the only crime categories that saw a jump. Assaults rose 6.5 percent, and the number of car thefts rose 11.5 percent.
The number of police stops dropped dramatically in 2013, amid growing criticism of the NYPD's stop-and-frisk regimen. New Yorkers were stopped 191,558 times last year, compared to 2011, when New Yorkers were stopped 605,328 times.
