Brief Look into NYC Crime Stats Year to Date May 2021
NYC Crime is Generally Low - Except for Gun Related Shootings & Murders and GLA
June 21, 2021 / NYC Neighborhoods / NYC Police & Law Enforcement / News Analysis & Opinion / Gotham Buzz NYC.
When I watch the nightly TV news, as their teleprompter readers / actors do a reading of the news, I find that what's lacking is any insight or thought to the words that come spewing out of my TV set. Today, I'm referring to the crime levels in NYC, and what's going on in our fair city vis a vis law enforcement.
The way the nightly TV men and women, who read the news to us, talk about crime in our city, you'd think it was the 1970's. But the reality is far from that.
Old Newsman's Adage - Consider the Source. Part of the problem is that between two and three of the six major TV stations operating in NYC are controlled or minimally, influenced by Australian born billionaire Rupert 'Goebbels' Murdoch. Herr Murdoch controls Fox 'News' Channel 5, and 'My' 9 Channel 9 [see how Murdoch embeds his propaganda in the names?], and he is one of the two largest shareholders in Disney / ABC. Since Disney / ABC completed the acquisition of Murdoch's Fox 'News' assets on March 20 of 2019, Murdoch appears to have taken a 'hands on role' in exerting an outsize influence over its CEO by influencing the personnel changes within ABC News. So remember that this in not your father's or mother's ABC News - it seems to increasingly be Rupert Murdoch's.
Propaganda for Profit? Part of the reason that Murdoch appears to be hyping crime in our city is that it plays to his favored Mayoral candidate, Eric Adams, who was endorsed by Murdoch's NY Post and who Murdoch's Wall St. Journal featured in a photo today, one day before the election. Murdoch appears never to give anything for which he won't receive something even better, in return. See our section on Rupert Murdoch and the Rise of the Propaganda Press to learn more about the corrupt influence Murdoch has exerted - not just in the U.S. - but around the world.
So let's look at the real crime statistics with an eye on understanding what's going on - rather than figuring out a way to exploit the crime statistics in order to get a potential Murdoch pol elected, which is who Eric Adams now appears to be.
NYC Crime has been Near Record Lows - Even This Year
First off, year to date May 2021 murder is up 8% or 12 deaths versus 2020. But it is up 38% or 44 deaths versus 2019. It's important to note that 2019 was a record low crime year overall for NYC and one of the near record low years for murders. In 2019 there were 318 murders, while May 2021 Year to Date there have been 161 murders. According to Wikipedia,
" ... In 2018, there were 289 homicides--the lowest number since the 1940s. Homicides in New York City surged in 2020, but still remained lower than any year between 1960 and 2011..."
- CLICK here to read the rest of our report about murders, shootings and crime in NYC and how illegal guns seem the root of the problem.
- CLICK here to view a Year To Date chart showing NYC Crime Stats as of May 2021 vs YTD 2020 and 2019.
FYI - NYC Murder Rates Are Still Well Below the National Average
Murdoch's media, such as the NY Post and Fox 'News', almost invariably blame the murder and crime rates on the Democrats and the cities. But the numbers, specifically vis a vis NYC, don't support Herr Murdoch's manipulative distortion. Nationally the USA had a murder rate that rose from 5 per 1000 to 6.2 per 1000 in 2020, while NYC's murder rate rose from 3.8 per 1000 in 2019, to 5 per 1000 in 2020. And yet while NYC's murder rate was well below the national average, the murder rates in Republican governed states rank among the highest.
Editor's Note: I think Murdoch's media's labeling of problems and issues as Democrat or Republican is a very divisive technique he uses to manipulate voters to vote for the Republicans (and some Democrats) who will do his bidding. I labeled murder rates as a Republican state failure here, in order to show you that if you choose your time periods, or geography or whatever other categories may apply - carefully - you can arrive at whatever conclusion you want. And this is a practice of Herr Murdoch's media propagandists, which is why Murdoch media outlets aren't a terribly reliable source of information / news. Because they distort the facts to fit their narratives - which appear invariably to be their Master's narratives - which net him more money and more power - oftentimes appearing to be at the expense of the electorate.
The media outlets and propagandists working for Rupert 'Goebbels' Murdoch are publicizing another distorted narrative about crime and guns, trying to pin it on the Democrats and the cities. Murdoch demagogically plays to the distorted reality and prejudices his ignorant viewers, rather than to their intellects. Merriam Webster defines demagogue, of which Rupert Keith Murdoch seems an excellent example, as one,
"... who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power... "
Murders & Shootings are up in NYC & the Rest of the Nation - What's Going on in NYC is Going on in the U.S. - It's Called Guns
According to a December 30, 2020 report in Time magazine,
" ... Gun violence and gun crime has, in particular, risen drastically, with over 19,000 people killed in shootings and firearm-related incidents in 2020. That’s the highest death toll in over 20 years, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), an online site that collects gun violence data, and the Britannia Group’s non-partisan site procon.org..."
The report goes on,
" ... And despite there being no “large-scale” shootings in 2020, the number of mass shootings--which are classified as an incident in which four or more people are shot and injured or killed--has actually risen, drastically, to over 600, the most in the past 5 years and a nearly 50% increase in 2019’s total.
Much of this violence has most significantly impacted poor Black and brown communities, exacerbating disparities already apparent in historical patterns. (Within inner-city minority communities that deal with high levels of gun violence, it’s not uncommon for there to be multiple shooting victims at one particular incident.) According to Everytown for Gun Safety, a non-profit organization that advocates for stricter gun laws, Black Americans make up 68% of homicide victims in larger cities, many of them victims of gun violence..."
So lots and lots of guns pour into poor communities and then people get shot and die. And since Mitch McCON-NO's Republican Senate let the
More Legislative Gun Control is Favored by the Vast Majority of Americans
A March 2021 poll by USA Today and Ipsos showed that two thirds of Americans favor stricter gun control, including half of all gun owners. Democrats favor it by 90%, while Independents favor it by 66% and 35% of Republicans. Overwhelmingly, Americans favor instituting background checks for purchasers of firearms, with 55% of gun owners favoring such action including 82% of Democrats, 62% of Independents and 40% of Republicans [versus 41% who say no].
With respect to assault weapons bans, according to an August 17, 2019 report in Politico, a Politico / Morning Consult Poll showed that even a majority of Republicans support an assault weapons ban. They tell us,
" ... The poll found that nearly 70 percent of all voters would back such a ban. Support ... was higher, at 86 percent, among Democrats ... the poll found that 55 percent of GOP voters were comfortable with banning assault weapons ... 89 percent of voters want to block gun sales to people who have been reported as dangerous to law enforcement by mental health providers ... Eighty-four percent of voters want to prevent people convicted of violent misdemeanors from purchasing guns. A similar percentage, 83 percent, support limiting gun purchases to those 21 and older. Eighty percent think there should be a mandatory three-day waiting period before someone can take home a gun. And 72 percent support banning high-capacity magazines ..."
So if We The People want to get serious about crime, forget Herr Goebbels Murdoch's assignment of blame to one party or another and pass some meaningful gun control legislation.
An NYC Mayor and the NYPD may be able to mitigate some of this, but the work they do without meaningful gun legislation is a band aid, not a solution to the problem. I think they are waiting for dozens or more to be killed in a mass murder - if not more - and even then, as this has happened before - will they act?
Transit & Other Crime in NYC DOWN - Year to Date May 2021
So that's murders and shootings. They're up, but they are still beating the national average. When you look at the other statistics, they're generally flat or down, except Grand Larceny Auto.
As for the other major categories, I only want to say that there's been a lot of noise made about transit crime in NYC by the local TV teleprompter readers. But if you look at the numbers Transit Crime is down year to year relative to both 2020 when ridership plummeted 90%, as well as the base regular year 2019. At the present time, MTA ridership is at about 50% and appears to be returning somewhat gradually.
So when you cast your vote for Mayor, remember that most crime is under control, and gun related crime relative to the rest of the U.S. is under control, but up versus record lows. But the main reason that we have a surge in violent crime is because the federal government - which is in part hamstrung by Herr Murdoch's outsize share of media and outsize influence with Mitch McCON-NO Republicans - has failed to pass meaningful gun control legislation.
I recommend you ignore the bubble heads on Murdoch's local TV and radio stations and newspapers who imply the gun violence problem is attributable to the job the NYC Mayor or the NYPD is doing. The real cause of the problem - which is also a national one - is because of the unbridled proliferation of guns - not because of who is NYC Mayor [as 'Goebbels' Murdoch appears to want you to believe] nor because the NYPD isn't doing a yeoman's job of trying to curtail the proliferation of arms in our fair city [because they are].
Click here to view the - NYC Crime Statistics Year to Date May 2021.
And vote wisely. It's not enough to just cast a vote, but to cast an informed vote.
May the force be with us.