Misdemeanor assaults decrease week to week ending Dec. 23

New York City police officers saw falling misdemeanor assaults in the week ending Dec. 23 compared to the previous week, according to New York Police Department data.

There were 787 misdemeanor assaults in the week ending Dec. 23, compared to 867 the week before.

This is a 9.2 percent decrease in misdemeanor assaults across the largest city in the US.

Police Commissioner Dermot Shea, in a release, claimed the overall crime rate in New York City is declining from a 2020 high, despite unstable trends among serious crimes such as shootings.

“The ongoing, downward trend in violence reflects the hard and often dangerous work of the men and women of the NYPD,” Shea said.

An investigation found violent crime, considered aggravated assault, murder, rape, robbery and shooting incidents were down in the summer during what’s “traditionally the highest-crime period of the year.”

However, the recent declines in New York City follow a dramatic spike in violent crime during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic at the end of 2020.

NYPD statistics available to the public show shooting incidents and hate crimes rose substantially amid the pandemic.

Crime	Current Period	Previous Period	% Change
Murders	3	2	50
Robberies	348	356	-2.2
Felony Assaults	485	457	6.1
Burglaries	262	227	15.4
Grand Larcenies	970	1,012	-4.2
Grand Larceny Auto Crimes	277	323	-14.2
Transit Crimes	47	37	27
Petty Larcenies	2,129	2,167	-1.8
Misdemeanor Assaults	787	867	-9.2
Rapes	45	48	-6.3
Sex Crimes	95	106	-10.4
Shooting Incidents	23	18	27.8
Hate Crimes	10	7	42.9