Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly’s crime-fighting era is off to a solid start – with serious crime down more than 9 percent for the new year.
And Kelly has taken to the streets to spread his crime-fighting messages.
He has met with people in troubled neighborhoods and has even surprised his officers by riding in radio cars with them.
Police statistics show the crime drop during the first half of January was led by a dramatic 58 percent plunge in murders to 13 from 31 for the comparable period in 2001.
All the major categories showed declines since Kelly took over on Jan. 1. Rape is down 17 percent, robbery is down nearly 12 percent, and assault is down nearly 16 percent.
The declines are throughout the city, with only Queens North registering a scant half-percent rise in crime. The Bronx led the downturn with a drop of 15.7 percent.
The number of shootings and victims also plummeted more than 20 percent during the first two weeks of the year.
Fourteen fewer New Yorkers were wounded by gunplay than at the same time last year (47, down from 61).
“We are encouraged by it,” said Kelly. “It is good news, we want a lot of it and we will keep the pressure on by emphasizing crime-fighting efforts and quality of life.”
Thomas Reppetto, president of the Citizen’s Crime Commission, agreed.
“It is an especially good start to the year and particularly significant because the winter has been particularly mild,” Reppetto said.
“I think that New York City will continue to keep crime down when many other cities are moving up,” he added.
Kelly, a former Marine and 31-year NYPD veteran, said he had been approaching people on the street since taking office to obtain “direct unvarnished feedback.”
“I talked to people on the street,” Kelly said. “The emphasis was generally positive about how the police are doing.”
The city’s top cop also has stunned his own officers by stopping their radio cars and jumping in the back seat to go on a run and chew the fat about their job and the NYPD.
“They’re initially shocked when I get in the car, but they open up quickly [because] they recognize the opportunity to have a direct line to the top,” Kelly said, adding he did similar face-to-face meetings when he served as commissioner about a decade ago.
The primary gripe: They want better pay and working conditions.
Kelly says he’s in their corner on both issues.