New York City finished off the year with the fewest murders since comparable record keeping began. The 2009 year-end total was 466. This is down from 523 in 2008 and 496 in 2007 – the first year since 1963 that the number of homicides fell below 500. It’s the fewest since comparable records were kept in the 1960s. Cases continue to be solved at a steady 70 percent rate.Overall crime is down in the city 11 percent from last year and 35 percent from 2001. The only major crime on the rise is felony assault, which was up 2 percent this year according to the city’s CompStat program, which tracks crime statistics daily.
The figures reflect a nationwide trend. Preliminary FBI crime figures for the first half of 2009 show crime falling across the country. Murder and manslaughter fell 10 percent for the first half of the year.
{WCBS 880 NY/Noam Amdurski-Matzav.com Newscenter}
