Brooklyn ends 2017 as safest year on record

December 29, 2017 By Paul Frangipane Brooklyn Daily Eagle

A graph shows a drastic decline in murders in Brooklyn from the early 1990s to 2017. Graphics courtesy of the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office

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Over the last four years, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office has become one of the most progressive DA’s offices in the country, but that hasn’t slowed the plummeting crime rate in the borough, which set another record low this year. According to DA-elect Eric Gonzalez, it just experienced its safest year on record.

Gonzalez will not stop there, he said, and plans to pursue a more “reform-driven agenda” going forward, he said.

In 2017, Brooklyn saw the fewest number of homicides, shootings and shooting victims since accurate record-keeping began, according to a DA statement. To continue the declines into 2018, Gonzalez, who’s term officially began Jan. 1, plans to announce new strategies to keep crime down.

“Next year, I pledge to continue the focus on enhancing safety while putting forth an ambitious reform agenda that will identify new opportunities for diversion, reduce reliance on incarceration and promote a fair system of justice that strengthens communities’ trust and engagement,” Gonzalez said in the statement that came out last week.

Brooklyn saw 110 recorded murders this year, with the actual number down to 101 after accounting for reclassified homicides from previous years. That bests the previous low in 2014 by 12, the DA said.

Despite illegal guns flowing into New York from states with lax gun laws, shooting incidents in Brooklyn were down by 118 compared to 2016, at 287 for the year. Victims of those shootings were also down 149 at a total of 341.

“The historic declines in crime that we are experiencing in Brooklyn can be described as nothing short of a miracle,” Gonzalez said. “But they were not achieved by chance — they are a testament to the dedicated work and smart-on-crime strategies of the NYPD, my prosecutors and our other partners in law enforcement and in the community.”

But out of decreases of the seven major felonies, rape in the borough increased by 19 from 2016 to a total of 456 reported rapes in 2017.

Murders and shootings were also down in historically impoverished and violent neighborhoods where many felony arrests take place, such as East New York, Crown Heights and Brownsville.

In murders, East New York dropped from 23 to 11, Crown Heights from 10 to six and Brownsville from 14 to nine.

In his new term, Gonzalez will continue calling for reforms like the closure of Rikers Island, the protection of undocumented defendants for misdemeanor charges, alternatives to prison for young adults and bail reform.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner James O’Neill credited lower crime to NYPD targeting mostly gangs and repeat offenders, according to a New York Times report.

The mayor also announced the city jail population of 8,980 for December was the first time numbers reached below 9,000 in 35 years.