NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton believes last month was the “safest January we’ve ever had” — trumpeting a sharp drop in murders and shootings but leaving out that felony assaults have spiked.
“I’m pleased to report … that it looks quite likely that January is going to be the, if not the safest January we’ve ever had, certainly one of the safest,” Bratton said Monday on the John Gambling radio show.
Murders have dropped 45 percent, to 22 from 40, and shootings are down by nearly 35 percent for the month, as compared to January 2015. But felony assaults jumped 17 percent, a figure that includes the recent spike in subway stabbings.
Overall crime is down less than 1 percent for the month, but up 10 percent for the week, according to the latest CompStat figures that track seven major categories of crime through Sunday night.