Index crime down overall throughout city, but Queens sees an uptick in petty larceny and felony assaults

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The NYPD released statistics for the crime rate for November and the year-to-date crime data that compared Nov. 31, 2018 to Nov. 31, 2019.

The year-to-date data depicted that there were 1.3 percent fewer incidences of index crime, according to CompStat.

In 2019, there were 87,014 index crimes committed, which was a drop from the 88,203 in 2018, according to the stats. There were fewer burglaries and grand larcenies last month compared to the same time last year.

There were also fewer shooting incidents, housing crime and crime in the transit system, according to CompStat. However, there was an uptick in murders, felony assaults and grand larceny auto in November 2019 compared to November 2018.

Stats for both the year-to-date data and the month of November depicted fewer incidences of rape in 2019 compared to the same time in 2018, however, the crime continues to be underreported, according to the NYPD.

In the northern section of Queens, burglaries, grand larcenies, grand larceny auto, transit crime, housing crime and misdemeanor assaults were down for Nov. 24, 2019, compared to the same time last year.

There was an increase in rapes, robberies, felony assaults, petty larcenies, sex crimes, UCR Rape (includes oral, anal & vaginal rape, attempts to rape and assault-to-rape cases as defined by the FBI), shooting victims and shooting incidences, according to CompStat. There were 25 murders that were committed in both 2018 and 2019.

In the southern section of Queens, robberies, grand larcenies, and transit crime were the only forms of crime that were down Nov. 24, 2019, compared to the same time last year, according to CompStat.

The index crime that increased the most in southern Queens in that same time period was felony assaults, which went up by a 100 from 1,979 in 2018 to 2,079. Other crimes that went up significantly were petty crimes and misdemeanor assaults.

Citywide stats that examine an entire month’s worth of crime for this year or the previous year is examined by the NYPD, but borough or sector breakdowns are not examined, according to the NYPD. The breakdowns for crime in each borough or sector are week-to-week or every 28 days, and then the year-to-date information is examined for those time periods.

Precision and Neighborhood Policing were attributed to the overall drop in crime citywide, according to the NYPD, but the police department intends on working on areas where there are upticks in crime to keep people safe.

“In a time where we see overall historic crime lows, our officers are zeroing in on the small number of people causing crime to ensure this security is felt citywide,” said the newly appointed Police Commissioner Dermot Shea. “We have a lot more work ahead to address persistent crime conditions and the men and women of the police department will continue to rise to the challenge while working closely with those we are sworn to serve.”