NYPD Commissioner Praises Officers for Bringing Down Murder Rate

Homicides and shootings declined in New York last month compared to the same period last year, according to new NYPD data that the city’s top cop says show progress against rising violence in the city.

Murders were down 22% in September 2021 compared with September 2020. Cops investigated 46 homicides in September, down from 59 they investigated in September 2020.

Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said the reduction in shootings and homicides “reflects the hard and often dangerous work of the men and women of the NYPD,” the Daily News reports.

Shootings were also down, but not by as much as homicides. Police counted 136 shootings in September, down by 14, or 9%, from the 150 shootings reported in September 2020.

September was the fourth month in a row that shootings and homicides dropped in the city when compared with the corresponding time period last year, officials said.

Officers report they are taking more guns off the street. The NYPD has made 3,425 gun arrests so far this year, a jump of 593, or 21%, from the 2,832 gun arrests reported in the same period of 2020.