Gun arrests are up, and shootings and murders are down, but everyone doesn't feel the city is safe, and the NYPD will do its own poll to find out why. NY1's Dean Meminger filed the following report.

The NYPD says based on their statistics, New Yorkers should feel safe walking the streets.

For the first half of the year, the total number of serious crimes is basically unchanged, up just a tenth of a percent from the historically low levels set last year. However, murders and shootings are down.

"These are not minor ebbs and flows in crime. These are dramatic drops," said NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Operations Dermot Shea. "One hundred and twenty fewer people shot in New York City so far this year."

There were 435 shootings from January through June, down 20 percent from the first half of last year. One hundred and sixty-one people were murdered, a 6 percent drop, or 11 fewer people killed.

There's been a big focus on arresting gangs and drug rings.

"We have 41 total takedowns year-to-date for the first six months of this year," said NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce. "Twenty-four of those 41 were gang, 17 were narcotic. And the gang takedowns, 491 arrests."

Gangs account for about two-thirds of all city shootings.

There is an increase in rape, 7 percent. but police say 92 percent of those rapes are domestic, or acquaintance, rapes.   

Although city officials say New York is extremely safe, there are some people who live here who don't believe that. Police Commissioner William Bratton says he's looking to change that perception.

"You hear it all the time, and it frustrates us because those cops are out there working very, very hard and the numbers should speak for themselves," Bratton said. "So whether it is in terms of how you guys report it in the media or what people feel and see in their particular neighborhood."

The NYPD plans to conduct its own poll of police and the community to learn why some people still don't feel safe.

"How are we doing and to hear from the public in those neighborhoods. To reach out to our officers more routinely, how are we doing, what do we need to improve," Bratton said.

The NYPD says it predicts with its new technology and more community policing, most categories of crimes will continue to drop during the second half of the year.