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It's pretty funny how much attention this is getting just because it happened in Times Square.
Yeah I agree...put bullets in the touristy spots and the headlines ring.
That being said...I think the NYPD did a great job quelling panic and that sort thing. We walked through Times Square yesterday about 45 min after the shooting and there was a lot of police tape and cops with riot gear...but I have to say the whole scene was dispersed pretty quickly.
This is getting alot of attention because shootouts with Police are NOT a common occurence in NYC quite uncommon in fact, and even less so in Times Square. It is noteworthy for those reasons, and because despite the massive amount of people that swarm Times Square night and day, nobody was injured (except of course the thug). It certainly gave lots of tourists a great story to go home with, unfortunately.
That is an interesting article that clearly demonstrates that crime is continuing to decline:
"Shootings across the 73rd Precinct are down. There were 67 shootings this year compared with 82 at the same time last year, according to NYPD statistics.
The fact that overall crime is down by 6%, shootings are down by 18%, and murder is down by 23% reflects well on the precinct command's crime suppression."
Does this mean the community is "safe"? Nope. However it is just another piece of evidence to support that crime continues to go down. The trend for a declining crime rate continues, despite the naysaying and "doomsday" predictions from so many on here. I am still waiting for evidence to show an increasing crime rate....
I am still waiting for evidence to show an increasing crime rate....
And you probably won't as long as Bloomberg & Commissioner Kelly are in office. They have mastered the art of manipulating the statistics. As long as homicides are down, they can play the numbers game with the rest of the stats.
Baylovers you believe that homicides are down because they are hiding bodies? Hypnotizing people into believing a murder/death never took place? Claiming it was aliens, not humans, that were murdered therefore it doesn't count?
There are alot of things you can blame Bloomy for, like the evilness of a 165,000 new affordable housing units for middle/working class NYers, or devilish 1 million trees initiatives to help clean the air and beautify the city, or the downright nasty movement to add bike lanes to the city to encourage exercise and get people out of cars, and let's not forget that horrible 311 system that allows NYers to take action and voice concerns in their community, and let's also blame him for wanting to increase parkland througout the city too...just terrible indeed! What a horrid Mayor...the worst!
But please, let's not try to assert that Bloomy and Kelly are simply making up numbers, and in fact we have had thousands of murders in NYC, but NYers are too dumb to notice! Are the stats bible? No..the bible isn't even bible! But neither are Bloomy and Kelly making up stats, nor are we in the middle of the highest crime rate in NYC's history.
When crime is going up, people do not claim it to be lies/made up/manipulating stats, but when crime goes down it's all lies/manipulation? Can't be true? You are welcome to believe all the scary headlines about horrific crimes in NYC, but when you step back and look at the larger picture, crime is in fact decidedly downward and there is no evidence to support otherwise.
It's kinda like the BIG headlines for the Million dollar lotto winners every week...you tend to think wow everyone is winning the lotto..it's easy. What's the reality when you step back and THINK? You have a 1 in 300 million chance of winning, and there were 299,999,999 million people/tickets purchased and LOST...but it's that 1 person every time that makes headlines..not all the losers.
If read my post carefully, you will see that my assertion is that homicides are the only statistics that cannot be routinely manipulated. Although they can be to a certain extent, by holding cause of death reports to the next year or using the CUPPI classification (when the medical examiner cannot make a definitive ruling, stands for Cause Undetermined Pending Police Investigation) to their advantage.
The rest of the statistics are all subject to the numbers game. The rest of your rambling has nothing to do with my post and I am not going to argue your inane logic. You wanted to see evidence... I simply stated do not count on the department's statistics.
But what other evidence could there be? How about polling people if they feel crime is up? Oh, we did. And it seems fairly even in the results with a narrow majority indicating that it is down. Congratulations.
My "inane" logic is simply this: As a resident of a higher crime community, I along with other neighbors/family/residents KNOW crime is down as compared to 5,10,15,20+ years ago... because we live it everyday. THAT is an accurate representation of what is happening with crime in NYC. Would it be more valid to go to a drug dealer/criminal and ask whether crime is down? They will most certainly say crime is skyrocketing! Why? Because that is their life and they know nothing else. Is that an accurate representation of the average NYC experience? NO..but it is representative of the criminal element of NYC.
Do I believe stats are 100%...heck no..and nobody, including myself, alleges so. Do I believe they fudge the stats...YES. This happens everywhere, in every city, and is nothing new or unique to NYC. The stats are all we have, and we use them as a gauage, nothing more. Do I believe there are hundreds or thousands more murders in NYC, and they are simply fudging numbers? NO.
Crime is still a factor in NYC, always has been, and likely always will be. But the issue is whether the TREND is increasing or decreasing. I do not see the long term trends of decreasing crime changing, not in my personal experience or the stats. In fact, I see them continuing to decline, or at worst leveling out, despite the near collapse of our economy and the high unemployment rate. That is a MAJOR achievement for NYC, but somehow never noted.
If you believe the stats are fudged so much so that we have rampant crime equivalent to the early 90s, that is up to you. Do I believe crime is higher than the stats would have you believe...of course. However, I still see the crime trend continuing to decrease..and that is far more important than knowing robbering are exactly xyz.
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NYPD: 4 shot to death at Manhattan apartment
