Murders and shootings dropped again in March in New York City, but serious crime is still up at the city’s housing projects, as are misdemeanor assaults, according to the NYPD.
Through March of this year, there have been 92 murders, down 11% from the 103 counted in the same period of 2022.
Between January and March, the NYPD counts 276 people as having been gunshot victims, a 16% drop from the 329 people reported shot in the first three months of last year.
But crime reports in city housing spiked 11% in March compared to March 2022. Overall crime in city housing is up about 9% so far this year.
Misdemeanor assaults in the city are up 6% for the year, the data shows.
The latest statistics, a snapshot of the first-quarter of 2023, comes a year after the NYPD announced a renewed focus on broken windows policing — the attempt to deal with low-level crimes and violations under the theory that not doing so creates an environment of disorder in which more serious crimes can happen.
The data also follows the formation of the Neighborhood Safety Unit, whose officers are tasked with taking guns off the street.
Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell has cited the Neighborhood Safety Unit as key to the drop last year in both shootings and murders.
But some criticize the new unit as a rebranded version of the Anti-Crime Unit that was disbanded by former NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea because its officers had been involved in a number of shootings and named in multiple misconduct allegations and lawsuits.