The murder rate in New York City is on track to drop below one a day, setting a new record in the former murder capital of the United States, police said Thursday.
Homicides so far this year have dropped by 27 percent compared to the same period last year, Newsday reports, falling to 240 murders through Sept. 25. If the rate of less than one murder a day keeps up, New York City will have about 323 murders in 2013, the lowest since at least 1962, when police first began keeping consistent records.
Outgoing Mayor Michael Bloomberg has made the plummeting crime rate a cornerstone of his legacy, even as critics and courts have pushed back against aggressive policing practices like stop-and-frisk.
Chicago surpassed New York as the city with the most murders in 2012, despite having one-third the population. Following almost two decades of falling homicides, New York City now has one of the lowest murder rates in the country, at about 2.87 per 100,000 residents.
[Newsday]