It is good news but murder is not what really matters to most residents who don't travel in circles where people shoot each other. We need to make more progress on robbery, burglary and car theft.

Mayor Healy will tell you crime is down according to statistics, and it is good there are less murders, however in an article I saw the other day it mentioned "Aggravated assault and burglary each went up"

Here is a sampling of crime issues, quite a few shootings may I add..guess they were not good enough shots to kill someone.

JC felon charged after trying to toss loaded gun
JC Carjacker flees car after seeing sleeping boys in back seat
Good Samaritan thwarts armed robbery at JC pizzeria
JCPD say 2 men attacked arresting officers after brutal beating of 49-year-old
NFL star Kenny Britt mum with cops after taking stabbing victim to hospital
Shots ring out, JC man, 20, suffers stomach wound
Kearny 14-year-old tells cops he was kidnapped, beaten, robbed in JC
JC man hit in face with gun during daylight robbery on Garfield Avenue
JCPD say 3 teen purse snatchers may have done second robbery nearby
New mother struck by stray bullet in JC, neighbor says
JC police say man punched and robbed by duo in Heights
Police investigating afternoon shooting on Myrtle Avenue in JC
Man is found shot dead in JC housing complex building
Driver gets mad, stabs passenger in fight over where to get dropped off
Police searching for man who stabbed JC resident
19-year-old shot in buttocks, Jersey City police say
JCPD say Bayonne man, 21,clubbed and stomped during sneaker theft
Man killed in Jersey City Near St. Peters College McGinley Square area
Elizabeth man stabbed while breaking up fight on JC street
Gunfire erupts during fight in Jersey City
Woman's BMW carjacked in Heights section of JC
Woman grazed by stray bullet in apparent Jersey City drive-by
Front door of Jersey City man's home blasted with gun after parking dispute:
JC bank robber gets $4,000 with 'Don't be a hero' note
Man's face slashed during robbery in DTJC

Doesn't all this drop in crime everywhere have to do with the fact that there is so much less lead in the gas/environment? why do police have to take any credit?

Wow. That is excellent. I guess the JCPD does deserve some credit afterall. Congrats to them - this is quite a wonderful achievement.

Progress!

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
on January 07, 2013 at 10:20 AM

The number of homicides in Jersey City dropped 28 percent to a more than four-decade low last year, city officials announced last week.
There were 13 homicides in Jersey City in 2012, five fewer than in 2011, officials said. That?s the lowest number of homicides since 1969, they said.

?We are obviously pleased when we see decreases in any crime category, but especially in the category of homicides where lives are lost needlessly,? Mayor Jerramiah Healy said in a statement.

?However, each and every single homicide is one homicide too many in our city, and I know the brave men and women of our police department will continue to work diligently to keep the trend in a declining pattern.?

About a year ago, a group of residents descended on a City Council meeting with protest signs, accusing city officials of ignoring crime. As a result, Healy and Police Chief Tom Comey hosted a series of town-hall meetings to address public-safety issues.

There were 33 homicides in Jersey City in 1969 the earliest year the city could find records, a city spokeswoman said while the peak number was 49 in 1979, according to the city.

?As the criminal element has become more and more creative, let?s say, in their efforts to sell illegal drugs and use handguns to protect their trade, we?ve had to do things differently to offset their success, which we believe has had a direct impact on the number of homicides in our community,? Comey said in a statement.

City officials attributed last year?s homicide decline to a ?significant effort? to reduce street violence, saying initiatives such as Operation Summer Shield, which led to more than 200 arrests, helped drive down crime.