Archives of the Mayor's Press Office

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani today congratulated Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, the men and women of the New York City Police Department, and community members for continuing to reduce crime in New York City while bucking the national trend.

New crime statistics released today by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in its Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program show that the nationwide total index crime rate remained flat in 2000 compared to 1999, while New York City's crime rate dropped another 3.7% from 1999. New York City's drop in crime also exceeded the 2.4% crime reduction in the Northeast in 2000.

"New York City has once again succeeded in bringing crime down further despite skeptics who claimed New York's crime rate had bottomed out," the Mayor said. "This data provides more compelling evidence that New York City's innovative approach to crime reduction continues to yield dramatic gains, even as the national trend levels off. The men and women of the NYPD, and all of their partners in the community, deserve praise for leading the nation in the fight against crime."

Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik said, "The FBI's statistics lend support to a fact that New Yorkers are well aware of: when it comes to cutting crime, no one does a better job than the NYPD. While crime rates are flattening -- or actually increasing -- in other parts of the nation, New York City has added yet another year of plunging crime to our already incredible winning streak. With total crime down another 3.7% and violent crime down even further, it's clear that New York City continues to lead the charge in reducing crime in the United States."

Among the 215 American cities with populations over 100,000, New York City ranks 163rd in total crime and ranks 23 out of the 25 largest cities in America. The FBI's report is comprised of crime data from jurisdictions across the country, with the number of cities reporting varying slightly from year to year. The data consists of the seven indexed crimes of murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny theft and motor vehicle theft. For comparison, New York City ranked 88 in 1993 out of cities with populations over 100,000.

Based on FBI figures, New York City continues to be safer than cities such as St. Louis (which has the highest crime rate in the nation), Atlanta (2), Miami Beach (3), Topeka (8), Dallas (19), Providence (35), Phoenix (47), Houston (67), Philadelphia (83), Boston (93), San Francisco (111), Anchorage (133), and Los Angeles (135).

Since 1993, New York City has posted the largest crime decline of the six other cities in New York State with populations over 100,000 -- Albany, Amherst, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Yonkers. According to FBI data, during this period, overall crime in New York City has declined 52%.

The chart below shows the nationwide percentage changes in crime as compared to New York City for calendar year 2000:

2000 FBI CRIME STATISTICS

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