Brooklyn Just Had One of Its Safest Years in Decades

BROOKLYN, NY — The murder rate increased this year in 25 of the nation's largest cities, according to data recently compiled by The New York Times — but that trend didn't apply to Brooklyn.

In fact, the borough is on track to record 127 homicides in 2016, down 15 murders from last year, and the second fewest recorded since 1970. The borough's murder rate hit a record-high in 1991, with nearly 800 homicides recorded, according to statistics released Thursday by the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office. Its modern low came in 2014, which saw 122 murders.

According to the DA's Office, the borough also saw a marked drop in both shootings and shooting victims this year. Through Dec. 25, a total of 407 shootings with 492 victims were recorded in the borough, according to the NYPD's CompStat database, compared to 468 shootings with 567 victims during the same period last year.

With a few annual exceptions, those two numbers have consistently fallen since 1995, when more than 1,250 shootings and about 1,350 victims were recorded in Brooklyn, according to the DA's statistics.

Overall crime numbers show similar trends. Through Dec. 25, the borough recorded 29,116 major crimes (murder, rape, robbery, burglary, auto theft, grand larceny, and felony assault). By comparison, last year, it recorded 32,171 major crimes during that period, about 10 percent more.

Only felonies increased in the borough this year, the DA's office said, citing an approximately 1 percent increase from last year. However, burglaries dropped about 25 percent, and robberies fell approximately 14 percent.

In a Thursday press release, Acting Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez said his office has "increased its focus on the drivers of crime – individuals responsible for most of the shootings and violence – while expanding alternatives to incarceration for youth charged with non-violent offenses."

Top image courtesy of André Gustavo Stumpf on Flickr