NEW YORK (PIX11) — Crime was up for the second month in a row, increasing almost 59% from February 2021, according to statistics released by the NYPD.
Incidents increased 58.7%, from 5,759 to 9,138 total. Additionally, every major crime category increased, the NYPD said. The biggest jumps were in grand larceny and grand larceny auto, which shot up 79.2% and 104.7%, respectively. Transit crimes also leaped up 73.7%, from 105 to 182 incidents.
Crime surpassed pre-pandemic levels, according to NYPD data.
“The men and women of the New York City Police Department are proactively addressing the deep-rooted causes of criminal behavior,” Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said in a statement. “The NYPD will never relent … New Yorkers deserve better.”
The only crime metric to decrease was citywide shootings, which saw a minor dip of 1.3% — from 77 shootings last year to 76 in February 2022.
Hate crimes were also up, with anti-Jewish and anti-Asian hate crimes seeing increases of 409% and 125%, respectively. There were 56 incidents reported in February that targeted Jewish New Yorkers, while 9 incidents targeted Asian residents.
