NYC Crime Overall Jumped 30% In April, NYPD Says

New York City NY

06 May, 2021

11:34 AM

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NEW YORK CITY — Expect to see more NYPD activity after overall crime increased citywide last month, police officials said. Crime overall in New York City jumped 30 percent in April from the same month last year, according to the NYPD's monthly crime statistics. The spike tracks with recent weekly crime reports showing a continued uptick in shooting incidents, but also reflects a 66 percent rise in grand larcenies and a 36 percent increase in felony assaults, data shows. Cops will step up continuing efforts to curb crime, including two recent gang takedowns in the Bronx, Juanita Holmes, the NYPD's chief of department, said Thursday. "They're facing up to 20 years for some of the gun violence and other charges that were committed," she said. The crime uptick from April 2020 to April 2021 could be at least partly fueled by the difference between a New York City in coronavirus lockdown compared to a city on the verge of reopening. But gun violence has been a persistent problem in the pandemic since last summer. Shooting incidents last week were 200 percent higher than the same week last year. They ended 166 percent higher in April 2021 than last year, data shows. Holmes said NYPD officers have had success taking guns off the streets — they collected 233 guns in April alone. NYPD officers will target 100 blocks with high levels of violence and actually sit side-by-side with ATF agents, Holmes said. The city Shot Spotters program — which last month led to 41 arrests and 44 firearms confiscated — will expand by nearly 9 square miles, she said. Cops will also continue confiscating ATVs and dirt bikes across the city, Holmes said. They took 131 off the streets recently, she said. "Listen, if you use it you're going to lose it," she said. Mayor Bill de Blasio said only a few thousand people out of a city of 8 million cause the vast majority of violence. "When you start to get those folks out of commission because of successful prosecutions, it makes all the difference," he said.