NEW YORK - Crime continues to drop in the city despite a rise in homicides.
The police department's CompStat program, which tracks crime statistics daily, shows overall crime fell citywide by 3.4 percent in 2008.
Homicides were up 5.2 percent, to 522 from 496 the year before, the lowest rate since recordkeeping began in the 1960s.
Robberies were up 2 percent, to about 22,200 from about 21,700. But rapes, felony assaults, burglaries and grand larcenies were down.
The city's homicide rate reached an all-time high of 2,245 in 1990, making it the murder capital of the nation. Since then, the rate has plummeted, and experts attribute the decline in part to the placement of most graduating police officers in higher-crime areas identified through the CompStat program.
But Mayor Michael Bloomberg canceled the next class of more than 1,100 police academy cadets to save money in the nationwide economic crisis and reduced the cap on officers citywide. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has said he would work with the cuts.
Homicides were up 5.2 percent, to 522 from 496 the year before, the lowest rate since recordkeeping began in the 1960s.
Robberies were up 2 percent, to about 22,200 from about 21,700. But rapes, felony assaults, burglaries and grand larcenies were down.
The city's homicide rate reached an all-time high of 2,245 in 1990, making it the murder capital of the nation. Since then, the rate has plummeted, and experts attribute the decline in part to the placement of most graduating police officers in higher-crime areas identified through the CompStat program.
But Mayor Michael Bloomberg canceled the next class of more than 1,100 police academy cadets to save money in the nationwide economic crisis and reduced the cap on officers citywide. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has said he would work with the cuts.
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