nothin It Wasn’t Just Murder Dropping | New Haven Independent

It Wasn’t Just Murder Dropping

NHPD

The official final numbers are in: If you believe statistics, then New Haven got safer in pretty much every measurable way this past year, down to quality-of-life crimes.

The city had also reported that murder dropped from 20 to 12 from 2013 to 2014, and 64.7 percent since a high-water mark in 2011. (A 13th homicide took place, involving a Hill storeowner who killed a robber in self-defense.)

Year-end stats released Thursday show that reported crime in 2014 dropped from 2013 in every major category, from robbery to burglary to motor vehicle theft. In most cases those rates have dropped steadily since 2011, when then-Mayor John DeStefano brought in Chief Dean Esserman with a directive to revive community policing. Overall major crimes dropped 14.5 percent in the past year, 21.7 percent since 2011.

Explanations and theories for crime drops vary from national trends and factors beyond a city’s control, like sentencing and deinstitutionalization laws; to federal gang sweeps; to locally launched initiatives like summer-overtime walking patrols, better training of supervisors, the formation of shootings and cold-case task forces, increased intelligence about and outreach to young people in trouble, and alliances with community-based organizations.

The chief has been the subject of controversy because of personal public misconduct. And New Haven still has a lot of crime. Still, whatever the explanations, the numbers present a picture of a city making progress in public safety. Presented here are the breakdowns released by the department.

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