Mean Streets: New York recorded a record number of violent crimes last year

The streets of New York are angrier than they have been in the last 15 years due to a surge in crime, according to new police data.

More than 170,000 violent crimes were recorded in the Big Apple last year, the most since 2006, when the NYPD first began releasing such statistics.

Data released last week shows a record 172,852 criminal offenses registered in 2022. This is 20.4% more than in 2021, when 143,522 complaints were registered.

“A big city shouldn’t grow that much or fall that much in one year,” said former New York City police chief Chris Hermann, now an assistant professor at Manhattan John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

“It’s kind of monumental stuff,” he told The Post, “just like a lifetime.”

Last year’s tally was driven by a surge in serious crimes, as well as other felony crimes not covered in the NYPD’s Compstat report, including criminal mischief, criminal contempt, strangulation, and possession of a dangerous weapon.

The data shows that this is even more than in 2006, the earliest publicly available year, when there were 171,318 criminal complaints.

The staggering numbers highlight the challenges Mayor Eric Adams and his police department have to overcome as they focused last year on fighting gun violence and subway crime.

While the number of homicides dropped significantly – which the NYPD attributed to a decrease in shootings – all other major crime categories saw an increase: 2022 ended with 126,588 major crimes, up 22.4% from a year earlier, as shown data.

For the first time since 2007, the number of serious crimes in the city exceeded 120,000.

“The year-end numbers are terrible, as if there is no way around them,” Hermann said.

Major crime continued to surge into the new year, with seven major crime complaints up 4.1% year-over-year in January, according to NYPD statistics released earlier this month.

Police experts have warned that other criminal offenses should also be taken seriously, although they are not included in the NYPD’s summary, which includes the most serious crimes such as murder, robbery, burglary, grand theft, auto theft. and rape.

Many seemingly minor crimes can often be a “prelude” to more serious offenses, Hermann notes.

“Criminal trespass is always a prelude to burglary, which may be a prelude [crime]which can quickly turn into robbery, which can then quickly turn into an attack,” he said.

“Misdemeanor assault becomes felony assault, becomes domestic violence shooting,” Hermann said, adding that domestic violence has historically accounted for a third of urban homicides.

“There has always been an escalation in violence regarding domestic violence. What you know certainly matters.

Topping the list of the seven non-serious criminal offenses that skyrocketed last year was disorderly conduct, with 13,006 crimes reported, up from 11,052 in 2021.

Criminal contempt of court, which is usually associated with a violation of a court order, rose from 8,463 to 10,216. Complaints about dangerous weapons, meanwhile, increased from 3,952 to 4,783.

Longtime New Yorkers have agreed that the Big Apple seems to be getting rotten with crime.

“Things are messed up, what else can you say?” a security guard from Brooklyn who identified himself as Frank L., 58, told The Post on Sunday outside a Lower Manhattan courthouse.

“I’ve lived here all my life and the situation is only getting worse.”

Michael Jack, a 37-year-old counselor from the Upper West Side, said he no longer felt safe.

“I’m sad, given how much potential the city has, but year after year it’s going in the wrong direction in terms of quality of life,” he said. “I often look over my shoulder as I walk down the street, no matter the time of day.”

The perpetrators seem “bolder than ever,” Jack said, adding, “I feel like the police don’t have enough backing to do their job properly.”

Adonis Rodriguez, an aspiring rapper born and raised in Brooklyn who works at a coffee shop in Soho, remarked, “There’s a lot of bullshit going on in the city.”

“At certain hours of the day, I try not to be seen,” he said, explaining that he tried not to go out “at any time” after midnight.

Adams, a former cop, and his police leadership pointed the finger at recidivism, which was responsible for much of last year’s rise in crime due to the state’s controversial 2019 reforms.

He pledged to increase funding for the city’s district attorneys and to lobby Gov. Kathy Hochul for the same in his State of the City speech last month.

Hole’s proposed budget provides $40 million in additional funding for more prosecutors and a similar amount to help deal with the burden of disclosure that has resulted in an increase in criminal case dismissals as part of criminal justice reform.

Asked about the new data at the Chinatown Lunar New Year parade, Hochul told The Post she is working with the mayor to bring the numbers down.

“I’m working very hard with the mayor in partnership to channel our resources into reducing crime so people feel safe, whether it’s a business owner walking the streets or one of our commuters,” she said. “Everyone deserves to feel safe and that’s my top priority.”

Additional report by Kyle Schnitzer and Hayley Brown