Major felony crimes went up slightly this year in New York City. But Mayor Michael Bloomberg begs to differ.

 

At a news conference this week, Bloomberg claimed violent felonies have gone down 21 years in a row, including 2011. The mayor believes that certain non-fatal strangulation crimes should not be tallied among this year’s felony totals, because of a law that took effect in late 2010 created a category of strangulations that are misdemeanors rather than felonies.

 

“If those crimes were excluded from the 2011 felony total, overall crime would have fallen by 1.2 percent, Mr. Bloomberg said,” reported The New York Times.

 

The newspaper added that official police statistics show major crimes in 2011 went up 0.4%, compared to 2010’s total.

 

New York police have also been accused of using another tactic to lower the crime rate…not reporting crimes. With the pressure coming from high up to be able to boast of a lowered crime rate, officers will sometimes not file a criminal report for such infractions as pickpocketing, burglary and even robbery.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Mayor Says Crime Is Down in 2011, with an Asterisk (by Kate Taylor and Al Baker, New York Times)