It was a tale of two cities as the NYPD announced its monthly CompStat figures on Wednesday — with police officials acknowledging a “serious” surge in shootings since the firing of Officer Daniel Pantaleo, while Mayor Bill de Blasio touted a drop in overall monthly crime reports.
Statistics showed citywide shootings nearly doubled during the past week, from 12 to 23, compared to the same time period last year.
That followed a 44% spike, from 16 to 23, during the previous week, which began the day of Pantaleo’s firing.
Those shootings bought the most recent four-week total to 85 shootings, up 25% from 68 last year, after two weeks in which there were a combined 39 shootings, down from 40 during the same time last year.
“There is an increase, and it’s a serious increase,” Chief of Department Terence Monahan said during a news conference at One Police Plaza.
Pantaleo was fired Aug. 19 over his fatal 2014 arrest of Eric Garner, prompting the Police Benevolent Association to urge that cops use “extreme caution” when busting suspects or using force to avoid a similar fate.
Police Commissioner James O’Neill said the additional shootings were concentrated in “parts of Brooklyn and Queens” and blamed most of the gunfire on “gang- and crew-related violence.”
O’Neill also said that “we continue to shift our resources to prevent retaliatory violence.”
“Let me tell you something, NYPD cops will never allow gun-toting criminals to walk the streets of the city with impunity,” he vowed.
De Blasio, meanwhile, chose to focus on the NYPD’s “further progress driving down crime in New York City,” noting that reports of serious felonies were down 2.1% last month, to 8,775 from 8,963 in August 2018.
“The human impact, we always come back to that in real terms. Well, it’s 188 fewer crimes, 188 fewer families afflicted by crime, living a better life because of the men and women of the NYPD,” he said.
“This means people were kept safe. This means the strategies that were put in places continue to work, continue to grow and continue to succeed.”
O’Neill also acknowledged an ongoing decline in police activity since Pantaleo’s firing, with arrests and criminal summonses down 19.8% and 12.5%, respectively, last week.
Parking violations also plummeted by a staggering 67.5%, while moving violations were down also down 22.4%.
Law enforcement sources have told The Post that while there’s no organized slowdown, the drop in numbers was due to the “Pantaleo effect” of cops not wanting to put their careers at risk.
During the two weeks leading to Pantaleo’s arrest, total arrests and criminal summonses were down 7.3 and 4%, respectively, then dropped by 23.7 and 20.8% during the two weeks after, CompStat figures show.
Shootings, meanwhile, were down 2.5% before the firing, then rose 64.3% during the following two weeks.
O’Neill said police officials were “monitoring” the situation and warned that “there is accountability here.”
“We have to make sure the precinct, [public housing] and transit commanders are paying attention to this and they are paying attention to this every day,” he said.
“Police officers have a responsibility to keep people safe and they need to do their jobs and that’s why we have the leadership in place that we do.”
O’Neill noted that gun arrests rose by 20% last month, to 355 from 296 in August 2018.
O’Neill also repeated his criticism of PBA President Patrick Lynch over his message to the rank and file following Pantaelo’s firing.
“This is something Pat feels he needs to do for his membership, and I’ll say it again, I disagree with him very strongly,” O’Neill said.
“I have all the confidence in the world in the men and woman of the police department that we will continue to drive down crime and keep people in the city safe.”