Mayor de Blasio was quick to tout the first crime statistics of his administration, and he has reason to celebrate: Overall crime fell 2 percent in the first 10 weeks of 2014, compared to the same period last year, and murders dropped by 21 percent.
In fact, for the first time since records have been kept by the NYPD, the city went 10 straight days without a single murder.
These are welcome stats, though — like Police Commissioner Bill Bratton — we suspect the extremely cold weather may have had something to do with the good news. As Bratton has also pointed out before, his predecessor had already brought down sharply the instances of stop-and-frisk before he left office.
We continue to have lingering worries that the restrictions the mayor is determined to impose on our police will lead to an increase in violent crime. But we’re encouraged by this early sign. And for our part, this is one area where we’d be happy to be proved wrong.
The truth is it is just too early in the game to draw any larger conclusions from these hopeful numbers.
In the meantime, we’re pleased the mayor clearly recognizes that ensuring New Yorkers’ continued safety is the key benchmark by which he and his administration will be judged.
Over the next four years, the measures Mayor de Blasio invoked this week will tell us clearly — one way or the other.