New York City starts 2023 with more than 18 percent spike in serious assaults – after Adams said crime is ‘tending to go down’

The New Year in the Big Apple is starting off with a bang, with NYPD statistics showing serious assaults up more than 18% from the same period in 2022.

According to NYPD statistics, rape also rose nearly 16%, while robberies and burglaries rose 9.4% and 5.5%, respectively, for a year-to-date increase in serious crimes by 3.4%. .

The ominous CompStat numbers come after Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said the city has finally turned the corner on crime and that worried New Yorkers can look forward to better things in 2023.

“We are leaving 2022 with crime … on a downward trend,” Adams said at a press conference on Jan. 5.

On the other hand, the latest data showed that the number of shootings and murders this year continued to decline by 26.7% and 12.5%, respectively, compared to 2022.

Police expert Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant, said it was “still too early” to predict what the statistics mean because “we’re only dealing with a couple of weeks.”

“However, this is something people should think about: we had a pretty near-record increase in crime last year,” said Giacalone, an associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

“So, if we don’t fall this year, we’re in trouble because then it’s the new normal and it’s going to keep getting worse as they go, instead of flattening out or going down.”

At the same time last year, the total number of serious crimes increased by 35.2%, the number of car thefts almost doubled and the grand theft increased by 61.7%.

Robbery also increased by 25.1%, followed by rapes by 15.8% and felonies by 7.7%.

A law enforcement source said the NYPD is “dealing with the ebb and flow of a constant recidivism that is intensifying” by criminal justice reforms, including cashless bail and new rules of evidence known as “discovery,” which prosecutors blame for an increase in cases. that get fired.

Another source said that “Last month’s downtrend was based on months of data, not weeks.”

“It can change like the weather,” the source said. “We got killed in the first few weeks of last year and we managed to pull back and gain momentum. We have overcome the previous deficit.”

The source added: “The question is, what does the rest of the system do? The NYPD cannot be held fully responsible.”

Additional report by Joe Marino