Brooklyn sees “safest” year in recorded history, according to DA, NYPD

With the fewest number of homicides and shootings since record-keeping began, 2017 will go down as the safest year in Brooklyn’s recorded history, announced District Attorney Eric Gonzalez based on stats compiled by the New York City Police Department.

According to Gonzalez, 110 murders were recorded in the borough in 2017 (nine of which, he stressed, were reclassified homicides from previous years, bringing the actual count down to 101) – down 18, or 14.1 percent, from 2016. In terms of shootings, there were 118 fewer incidents (287 total), which is down almost 30 percent from 2016 and 149 fewer shooting victims (341 total, down 30.4 percent).

To boot, total index crime in Brooklyn (representing the seven major felony crimes) was down five percent with decreases in all categories except for reported rapes (which saw a 4.3 percent increase). The number of arrests in the borough is also down by over 7,200 (an 8.4 percent drop) bringing the total to less than 80,000.

“The historic declines in crime that we are experiencing in Brooklyn can be described as nothing short of a miracle,” said Gonzalez, promising to put forth an “ambitious, reform-driven” agenda for 2018 that will focus on driving down violent crime while finding new opportunities for transparency and efficiency. “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.”

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