News Item
New York City experienced a banner year in the fight against rising violent crime, flooding the streets with new teams of police officers.
Much of that increased police presence has come from the
New York Neighborhood Safety Teams, a program that Mayor Eric Adams launched in 2022 to replace plainclothes teams that were disbanded in the city in the wake of the 2020 George Floyd protests. Those officers have been credited with seizing thousands of illegal firearms throughout the city in 2023 through stops of pedestrians the officers suspected of being armed and dangerous.
New York City murder numbers dropped 12% in 2023 compared to the previous year while shootings fell 25%, according to numbers released by the New York City Police Department, with all five boroughs experiencing a decline in shootings.