New Report: Progress in Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety Has Stalled

New study finds that as crime falls citywide, violence in public housing is on the rise

NEW YORK, NY (6/23/16) — As Mayor de Blasio celebrates the completion of lighting installations aimed at reducing crime at Brooklyn’s Bushwick Houses, a new Manhattan Institute report highlights a troubling trend emerging among the city’s public housing developments (NYCHA). Policy analyst Alex Armlovich finds that even as citywide crime falls, NYCHA-wide index crime is up 7.2 percent since the beginning of the year, while progress in the developments targeted by Mayor de Blasio’s safety plan has stalled.

During the first year since the implementation of the Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety (MAP), crime fell in the 15 targeted public housing developments to the point where they no longer suffered a disproportionate amount of crime compared to the rest of NYCHA. In the year since, however, this progress has stalled, leaving MAP developments with a 16 and 17 percent share of NYCHA’s index crime and violent crime, respectively.

Given the citywide downward crime trend, rising NYCHA crime and MAP’s inability to continue crime reduction are both troubling. There are, however, two reasons for optimism: First, shootings are down 43 percent in MAP developments, versus only 4 percent in the rest of NYCHA; Second, total index crime is down 3 percent in MAP developments so far this year, but up 8 percent in the rest of NYCHA.

It is still early, but these trends are important to watch, as a lot is riding on the mayor’s policy experiments. The hope is that lights, cameras, and police can protect our most vulnerable citizens from violent crime, but if MAP fails to significantly deter crime, it may be time to reevaluate the proposed move away from the appropriate and well-targeted use of stop, question, and frisk.

Click here to read the full report.