NYC crime up 22% in 2022 despite drops in homicides and shootings: NYPD

Despite reductions in homicides and shootings, the NYPD saw a 22% jump in overall major crime in 2022 — but reductions in the last several weeks indicate the city may be turning a corner, police officials said Thursday.

Year-end NYPD statistics shared with the Daily News show an 11% drop in homicides and a 17% drop in shootings in 2022 compared to the year before. But the city saw a 25% rise in robberies, a 12% jump in felony assaults and a 32% spike in car thefts compared to 2021.

Major crime was up 22%, with 23,149 more felony crimes reported in 2022 than a year earlier. By the end of 2021, 103,388 felony crimes were probed. Last year, 126,537 felony crimes were reported, cops said.

But cops were encouraged by a drop in robberies, burglaries and other crimes in December.

Cops saw a 26% drop in homicides in December, when compared to December 2021. They also saw an 8% drop in robberies and a 10% drop in burglaries. Felony assaults rose by 4% in December, statistics show.

The city ended the year with a 29% increase in crime in the city’s subway system following several high-profile assaults that led Mayor Adams and Gov. Hochul to announce a major underground crime crackdown.

The city’s public housing developments weren’t spared the crime uptick, with a 6.5% jump in felony crimes in 2022, statistics show.

The city saw 433 homicides in 2022 compared to 488 victims the year before. But murders were still up 36% in 2022 compared to before the COVID pandemic. In 2019, the city saw 318 slayings.

Cops investigated 26,036 felony assaults in 2022, 2,978 more than in 2021, NYPD officials said.

Most of the violence occurring since the pandemic has been committed by warring street gangs, police officials say.

Shootings began skyrocketing in the city during the summer of 2020, culminating in a horrific July 4 weekend in which 41 people were shot, nine fatally, in one day. The violence continued through the beginning of 2021, but began to abate slightly.

In July 2021, a year after the surge in violence began, ex-Police Commissioner Dermot Shea reported a 35% drop in shootings that month compared to the previous July, although the month ended with a violent gang-fueled Queens bloodbath that wounded 10 people.