After starting 2021 with two solid months of crime reductions, the NYPD hit a bump in the road in March, according to statistics released Tuesday.
Overall index crime jumped 2.4% last month, year-over-year, due largely to a significant uptick in murders and reported auto thefts.
Shootings continue to remain a problem as well, with another 99 incidents recorded in March — up 76.8% from the 56 shootings tallied in March 2020 — even as the NYPD continues making hundreds of gun arrests each month. Another 492 gun arrests were made across the five boroughs last month, with the majority of them (275) occurring in the Bronx and northern Brooklyn.
Another troubling statistic was the surge in hate crimes targeting Asian New Yorkers. The city saw 31 such incidents in March 2021, averaging out to one per day; there were none recorded at the same time last year.
