Murders county wide are way down in 07. It's pretty much a joke compared to any other metropolis. There's no sub-categories to hide murder within the stats. I think there were 55 in Hudson county in 2005 ( correct me if that is wrong ) That was 'the fluke year' due to some cases of mass homicide. One case in the heights and one in greenville. Hudson county has an an extremely low murder rate compared to pretty much anywhere else. Baltimore for example has about the same population as hudson county and has over 250 murders consistently every year. Sad.

I was pretty shocked to see my hometown West New York in 2nd place with 4 homicides in 2007. ( statistically about the same as JC according to population ). Can't wait to get my ass back up there and escape this prissy poo ridden place of out of towner whiners.

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Yeah, the numbers are so small to begin with. Saying the drop was 25% sounds big, but in reality it was only a difference of 2 or 3 actual murders.

Interesting Article. NYC = JC ?????


"Nobody knows for sure why crime has come down."


DTG


1/03/08

NY police credit rookies for declining murder rate

By Edith Honan




A 4-year-old program that sends rookie police officers to crime hot spots in New York City has helped the city achieve the lowest crime rate in 17 years and will be doubled in size in 2008, police officials say.

New York police said there were 494 homicides last year, down from 596 in 2006 and the lowest since 548 in 1963 when the city began keeping records of the total number of murders.

When asked last week if there was a single reason for the decline in crime, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly cited Operation Impact, which sends rookie police officers to narrowly defined areas that have suffered from high crime, some no larger than a housing project or a shopping corridor.

This month, all 914 members of the most recent police academy class will join the program, bringing the size of Operation Impact to more than 1,800 officers.

"You might have a high crime precinct, but the crime might be confined to a relatively small part of the precinct," said police spokesman Paul Browne. "It's important to put the boots on the ground and to increase police visibility dramatically."

But the decision to dispatch the least experienced officers on the most difficult assignments has given ammunition to watchdog groups that have accused the NYPD of harassing blacks and Hispanics in low-income neighborhoods.

"There are concerns that when rookies are sent to high-crime areas with instructions to stomp out crime, it's an invitation to engage in overly aggressive bullying tactics, including stop and frisk procedures that target people of color," said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.

But Browne said using rookies has been key to the success of the program, which was launched in 2003.

"They're the most recently well-trained officers we have. These people are getting the best instruction in the country and when they get out, they know their stuff," Browne said.

But critics say there is no evidence Operation Impact deserves the credit for the city's drop in crime.

"Every year that crime drops, the police take credit for the drop," said Andrew Karmen, a sociology professor at New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice and author of a book on the city's declining homicide rate.

"Nobody knows for sure why crime has come down."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080103/us_nm/newyork_crime_dc

I guess you also think Healy isn't really fighting Corzine to keep our school funding...

From that other thread:

"He (Corzine) has come out with his funding formula and that's all well and good, but it increases Jersey City's funding 2 percent, when our expenses are going up 4 1/2 percent every year," Healy said.

"This governor is trying to get this administration, this City Council, and this mayor to raise the balance of that 2 1/2 percent off taxpayers ... and this administration is not going to do that," Healy added."

Click Here

Homicide: the killing of a human being by another human being

Are you saying that the police claim that the person did not die?

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sort of like when Bush decided to start labeling jobs in fast food as "manufacturing jobs" when he started catching flack for letting too many manfuacturing jobs go overseas... it's all semantics folks.

A 3 murder difference from 2006 to 2007 is nothing to cheer about. And 2005 was a fluke, we knew it then, and i would expect people would know it now.

I bit of both. One great way to lower crime statistics is to report crimes as less severe alternatives; often violent crime rates drop because police departments stop counting certain things as violent crime, like say a mugging no longer counts as violent crime, so the rate goes down, even if the incident doesn't. This technique was really popular in the 1990's; to some extent, its been suggested that telling people there is less crime actually helps reduce crime. But anyway, while I'm not surprised actual murder rates have dropped, I wouldn't be all that surprised either if someone was messing with the numbers.

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Is that a bad joke?

Murders are way down.

So are murders actually down, or has the JCPD simply started reporting some homicides as non-murder crimes like assault and man-slaughter?

(updated)

27 homicides in 2007 as decline continues

Thursday, January 03, 2008
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

There were 27 homicides in Hudson County last year, the second straight year the number of slayings has fallen, and it's a nearly 50 percent reduction from 2005.

In 2005, there were 50 slayings, the highest number in the county since 1989. The number dropped to 37 homicides in 2006.

There were 21 homicides in Jersey City last year, down from 24 in 2006, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said yesterday. In 2005, there were 37 homicides in the city, the highest number since 1982, officials said.

"We are seeing the fruits of (the Jersey City Police Department's) labor, but 21 homicides is 21 homicides too many," Mayor Jerramiah Healy said, crediting the leadership of Chief Tom Comey and Director Sam Jefferson.

There were four homicides in West New York last year, one more than in 2006, DeFazio said. Bayonne and Union City each had one homicide last year, DeFazio said.

Seventeen of Hudson County's homicides last year were shootings, DeFazio noted, adding that many would not have occurred except for the availability of guns.

"People are resorting to the use of a gun in incidents where in the past there would not be a firearm used," the prosecutor said, adding that the numbers from last year signaled an improvement, but were still unacceptable.

Most of Jersey City's homicides were gang-and/or drug-related, and occurred in areas known for drug trafficking, said DeFazio.

"Where you have open-air drug-dealing, you have gangs and you have the ancillary violence that comes with that," he said.

But DeFazio also said it is telling that Jersey City has a "surprisingly low homicide rate compared to other urban areas in New Jersey," and in part credited "a fabric to the community that is stronger than in some other urban areas."

For the first time since 2002, homicides are down in Newark, the state's largest city. There were 98 homicides in Newark last year, a drop from 107 in 2006.

Trenton hit a historic high of 31 homicides in 2005 and the number dropped to 18 in 2006, but last year it climbed to 25. Camden had 45 homicides last year.

New Jersey's experience seems to mirror the rest of the country. After a spike in violent crime in recent years, some cities - including Miami, Atlanta, Baltimore - are still struggling while others - such as Chicago, Philadelphia, Newark - appear to be getting it under control.

Two homicides included in Jersey City's total last year resulted from incidents that occurred in previous years.

Newhouse News Service contributed to this report.

Murders down in Hudson County for second straight year

by Michaelangelo Conte
Jersey Journal
January 02, 2008

There were 27 homicides in Hudson County in 2007, a drop of more than 25 percent from the 37 murders in 2006, officials said today.

It was the second straight year homicides went down, and a nearly 50 percent reduction from 2005, when there were 50.

There were 21 homicides in Jersey City in 2007, a reduction from the 2006 total of 24, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said today.

In 2005 there were 37 homicides in the city, the highest number since 1982.

There were four homicides in West New York in 2007, one more than in 2006, DeFazio said. There was one murder each in Bayonne and Union City.

Seventeen of Hudson County's 2007 homicides were the result of shootings, said DeFazio.

"People are resorting to the use of a guns in incidents where in the past there would not be a firearm used," DeFazio said.

Most of Jersey City's homicides are related to gangs and drugs and occur in areas known for drug trafficking, said DeFazio.

He called the murder rate in Jersey City "surprisingly low . . . compared to other urban areas in New Jersey."

"I think there is to some degree more community and neighborhood action and I think the crime problem overall can only be confronted when neighbors or neighborhoods look after the people and are concerned about the people that live there," DeFazio said.