Halfway into the year violent crime across the city is on the rise -- despite a small statistical drop in overall crime.
According to the latest NYPD Crime Stat numbers, crimes in the Big Apple decreased by 1 percent from this time last year with 47,810 crimes reported for the first six months of 2010 – 638 less crimes than at this time last year.
The overall decrease was fueled largely by a 7 percent decrease in grand larceny. But violent crimes were on the uptick.
Murders in the city increased 11 percent thus far this year, rising from 199 to 221. Shooting incidents also increased.
In total 652 incidents of gunfire were reported, 44 more than the number police responded to last year. There was also an increase in the number of New Yorkers who were shot, with the number climbing 7 percent with 799 shootings.
The number of rapes in the five boroughs has also jumped from 555 this time last year to 629 so far in 2010. Police also responded to a large number of felony assaults, which saw a 2.4 percent increase.
The increase comes after years of steady decline in crime rates.
