Crime rates in New York City have been documented since the 19th century, and have seen a dramatic increase since the post-war period. The highest crime totals were recorded in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the crack epidemic was at its peak. In response to a series of murders that occurred in the area, some of which involved nightclubs and doormen, the New York State Criminal Procedure Act was amended to include rules for arresting, interrogating and searching, based on the decision of the United States Supreme Court in the case of Terry v. Ohio.
This practice, known as 'stop-and-frisk', involves police officers arresting and questioning hundreds of thousands of pedestrians every year and searching them for weapons and other contraband. In 1992, David Dinkins appointed Raymond Kelly as the 37th New York City Police Commissioner. During his tenure, the NYPD adopted CompStat, broken window surveillance, and other strategies in an effort to reduce crime. During Rudolph Giuliani's first term as mayor, the NYPD also adopted an aggressive policing and deterrence strategy based on James Q. Wilson's 'broken windows' theory. If we look at the seven major crimes tracked by the New York City Police Department, there was an increase of nearly 26% in Manhattan compared to the previous year.
This could be attributed to a number of factors, including the 1968 New York City teachers strike, when Brownsville's white majority teaching population confronted the mostly black residential population. In New York and Philadelphia, respondents cited several recent incidents of high-profile violence in city centers as exacerbating factors. Politicians in both cities considered returning to 'stop-and-frisk' tactics, which have been found to not only fail to improve security outcomes but also cause generational harm to young people of color. At weekly meetings, senior NYPD executives meet with local police commanders from one of New York City's eight patrol districts to discuss issues. One of Raymond Kelly's innovations was the unprecedented deployment of New York City police detectives in other cities around the world after terrorist attacks in those cities, in order to determine if they are in any way related to New York's security. The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee plans to hold a “field hearing” in Manhattan on April 17 to draw attention to “how the pro-crime and anti-victim policies of Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg have led to an increase in violent crime and to a dangerous community for New York City residents.”The murder of exclusive prostitute Helen Jewett in 1836 is another example of a high-profile crime that occurred in New York City during this time period. Her alleged murderer Richard P.
Robinson was acquitted after a trial. In conclusion, crime rates in New York City have been documented since the 19th century and have seen a dramatic increase since the post-war period. The highest crime totals were recorded during the late 1980s and early 1990s due to the crack epidemic. The NYPD has adopted various strategies such as CompStat and broken window surveillance in an effort to reduce crime. However, there has been an increase in violent crime due to pro-crime policies by district attorneys such as Alvin Bragg.
High-profile crimes such as Helen Jewett's murder also contribute to this issue.
