Crime & Safety
NYPD Firearm Use Down This Year
For the first time since 1971, the NYPD has shot and killed the fewest number of people, most had prior arrests.
This year, New York City cops have discharged the fewest bullets, and have shot and killed the fewest number of people since 1971, when records were first kept, according to a report released yesterday by the NYPD.
“The improvement is due to police training, restraint, and our success in reducing crime overall,” Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said in a statement.
Here are some stats: officers shot and killed eight people this year (compared to 93 in 1971), while 16 were wounded by police bullets, compared to 221 in 1971. There were 30,000 active-duty officers back then, as opposed to almost 35,000 today.
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94 percent of the suspects who entered into altercations with police had prior arrests, 91 percent had multiple arrests, and 78 percent had previous arrests for violent crimes. And of the eight people killed by police officers, seven had prior arrest histories, while the one subject with no arrest history shot a police officer three times.
In 2010, there were a total of 368 shots fired, which was up from the total in 2009. The NYPD blames this on two gun battles in 2010, compared to zero incidents of the sort in 2009.
