The NYPD says the number of serious crimes in the city fell again in 2016, setting a record low in the modern era, and that a new policing strategy is responsible. NY1's Dean Meminger filed the following report.
The de Blasio administration tried a new approach to tout the NYPD's latest gains in making the city safer, creating a photo exhibit of what New York looked like in the days of high crime.
"We had 5,200 shootings in 1993. We are under 1,000. This a huge change," said Bill Andrews, the NYPD's deputy commissioner of strategic communications.
Last year, there were 998 shootings, to be exact, down more than 80 percent since the NYPD began tracking crime trends with computers in 1994. It's believed to be the lowest number of shootings in one year since at least the 1960s.
There were also 335 murders last year, a 4 percent drop from 2015 and down from the record of 2,262 in 1990.
"What's impressive about some of these statistics when you look at them is the initial drop. But then, Dean, it stays down. It stays down and continues a downward trend," said Dermot Shea, the NYPD's chief of crime control strategies.
So how does the NYPD continue to keep crime low when many other major cities have seen spikes in crime and murders?
They call it precision policing, zeroing in on those who repeatedly commit crime, especially gang members.
"The use of new technology. The identification of both people and pattern, who's doing the most amount of crimes, whose names continuously come up," Shea said. "And technology has aided us in this."
Precision policing represents a change from the controversial and, critics say, random use of stop, question and frisk tactics. The number of stop-and-frisks has plunged from nearly 700,000 in 2011 to about 13,000 last year.
"We've got a very good model now for organizing and structuring and mounting investigations of high-value individuals, high-value subjects who are committing a lot of the violence in the city," Andrews said.
"I don't need to take all the credit as a representative of the NYPD. I am just glad to be a part of the overall process. But with that being said, we are pretty damn proud of the work that we have done," Shea said.
Although police usually take the credit for low crime numbers, there has been pressure for the city to recognize community groups who are also in the fight against violence.
"I again want to thank all the men and women of the NYPD, but I want to thank their partners as well, the men and women who are a part of the the crisis management system," Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
Those city-funded groups try to squash beefs in the community before they become violent and offer counseling to troubled young people.
"We are out there in 18 sites, 52 organizations working on the front line with people who have the potential to be shot or shoot somebody," said Erica Ford of Life Camp Inc.
The mayor and police commissioner say they believe they can push crime numbers even lower, but they need the help of all communities.