By Bob Tannenhauser
Major crimes committed citywide decreased by 2% in the first six months of 2024, while Upper West Side major crimes decreased by 4.4% for the same period, according to an NYPD report released on July 3.
The NYPD citywide crime stats for the six months ending on June 30, 2024 showed a decrease in four of the seven major crimes, compared to the same period in 2023. Murder incidents declined by 17.8%, with burglary, grand larceny, and grand larceny auto also showing declines. Conversely, according to the data, rape, robberies, and felony assaults increased by 11.1%, 4.9%, and 6% respectively.
The chart below, expanded by West Side Rag, also shows the six-month citywide results for petit larceny, misdemeanor assaults, hate crimes, and transit crimes, in addition to the seven major crimes. According to the report, the decrease in transit incidents resulted from the NYPD’s “ongoing strategy to prevent crime and reassure passengers using the nation’s largest transit network.” That may include the deployment of an additional 1,000 NYPD officers to the subway in March, according to abc7ny.
The report also stated that the “hefty increase in the number of potential anti-Jewish bias incidents being investigated by the NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force was a result of the fiery rhetoric and sometimes violent actions that accompanied the protests in New York City.”
Citywide Crime Statistics
| Citywide | YTD 6/30/24 | YTD 6/30/23 | % Change |
| Murder | 171 | 208 | -17.8% |
| Rape | 814 | 733 | 11.1% |
| Robbery | 8,211 | 7,828 | 4.9% |
| Fel. Assault | 14,364 | 13,545 | 6.0% |
| Burglary | 6,277 | 6,963 | -9.9% |
| Gr. Larceny | 23,607 | 24,607 | -4.1% |
| GLA | 6,767 | 7,525 | -10.1% |
| Petit Larceny | 52,883 | 53,905 | -1.9% |
| Misdemeanor Assault | 23,263 | 21,385 | 8.8% |
| Hate Crimes | 329 | 285 | 15.4% |
| Transit | 1,044 | 1,121 | -6.9% |
The Upper West Side
The six-month statistics for the 20th, 24th, and Central Park precincts comprising the Upper West Side show decreases in five of the seven major crimes categories, with rape and robbery showing increases of 25% and 31.9% respectively. As with the citywide chart, we have included in the Upper West Side chart below the data for petit larceny, misdemeanor assaults, hate crimes, and transit crimes. Hate crimes on the Upper West Side increased to 19 from 14 the prior year. Petit larceny decreased by 16.2%, and misdemeanor assaults decreased by 2.7%. Transit incidents increased by 13.3%, from 15 to 17, contrary to the citywide decrease.
| YTD 6/30/24 | YTD 6/30/23 | % Change | |
| Murder | 0 | 3 | -100% |
| Rape | 15 | 12 | 25% |
| Robbery | 149 | 113 | 31.9% |
| Fel. Assault | 138 | 153 | -9.8% |
| Burglary | 136 | 150 | -9.3% |
| Gr. Larceny | 633 | 640 | -1.1% |
| GLA | 53 | 105 | -49.5% |
| Petit Larceny | 1,188 | 1,417 | -16.2% |
| Misdemeanor Assault | 283 | 291 | -2.7% |
| Hate Crimes | 19 | 14 | 35.7% |
| Transit | 17 | 15 | 13.3% |
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Crimes “reported” to NYPD may be decreasing, but have some doubts as to whether crimes “committed” keep declining. Hope it’s the case.
This always comes up: reported vs. committed. Why would the disparity be any different today than in the past?
Increased paperwork, increased potential for racial discrimination, increased violence on police, reduced likelihood of prosecution.
Right… this is with or without robberies and attempted rape in Central Park just recently ? Didn’t see any reports on this either from WSR even though they were on the west side of the park.
So you didn’t read through the rag I guess?
https://www.westsiderag.com/2024/06/24/half-naked-man-sexually-attacks-female-sunbather-in-central-park
https://www.westsiderag.com/2024/07/05/2-people-robbed-by-group-in-central-park-police
According to these stats…
Major crime is UP in the 20th precinct & Central Park …. But down enough in the 24th to show a decrease.
I live in the 20th (over 25 years) … I’ve never felt as uneasy and watchful in the neighborhood as I do today.
The crime reports from the NYPD also compare stats are now vs. historical. 25 years ago is ’99, the closet the reports have is ’98. For 20th precinct major crime is down 39.1% comparatively, for the 24th major crime is down 44.8% comparatively.
With all do respect, could it be because you are 25 years older? Perceptions change.
No one is being arrested or held and everyone is being released without bail.
Joe, what you write is self-contradictory. If “everyone is being released without bail,” then those people have been arrested. But you said “No one is being arrested.”
Not helpful.
Why do people bother leaving hyperbolic, obviously untrue statements like this in the comments? Better yet, why does WSR bother publishing them?
Honest question… what is a crime defined as?
—is it reported?
—is it arrests?
—charged?
—convictions?
Reports to NYPD. They take the reports, they compile the data.
Sorry, naysayers, you can’t under report homicides and nobody doesn’t report their car being stolen or vandalized in a break in. Because insurance.
And the reasons why rapes and sexual assaults are underreported are consistent over time meaning fewer reports equals fewer crimes.
Crime is down. Try to live with that, ok?
Not everyone has comprehensive insurance to make a claim. And you can definitely under report assaults — I know because I didn’t call anyone when some guy on the street grabbed me. Just pushed him off.
The factors you cite were always true, there is no reason whatsoever to believe that the percentage of unreported crimes has changed or gotten higher.
All those shelters for the homeless and asylum seekers and crime is down citywide and on the Upper West Side? Let’s see what the “safer streets” crowd has to say to that.
I appreciate that crime rates are continuing their downward trend from the higher levels seen during the pandemic and I ALSO don’t want to pay for asylum seekers. What’s so difficult to reconcile?
Tough day to be a pearl clutcher in the comment section
Some of us are pearl clutchers in the sense that some of us are older women who feel and perceive more crime than you may.
Some of us don’t actually wear pearls to clutch but empathize with the elderly or women who plainly see more crime than you do.
Tough day for pearl clutchers? I’d say it’s another tough day for gaslighters instead.
On the UWS, robbery is up 32%. Rape is up 25%. Hate crimes up 36% and transit crimes up 11%. Assaults are basically even. Mind you that these numbers are increases from are already catastrophic numbers.
As for these numbers being accurate, they most certainly are underreported and nobody seems to know what these numbers are based on. With a DA that sends everyone home, I doubt these numbers are any indication of the number of crimes that are occurring.
I’d love to know what kind of person feels the need to make people concerned with crime seem ridiculous? I’ve been reading the comments on crime here for a long time and there’s one thing I can say for sure: these perma-responders who are always downplaying crime in the city definitely don’t have children to worry about.
Crime reports may be down, but that doesn’t mean that there is not an unacceptable level of crime on the UWS. I truly don’t understand the people who suggest that people who complain about crime in the neighborhood are “pearl clutchers”.
Let’s say that the number of e-bikes on the sidewalks are lower on Thursdays than on Saturdays. Does that mean that no one should complain about the number of e-bikes on Thursdays?
So property crime is down, but people crime is up.