Simply Statistics A statistics blog by Rafa Irizarry, Roger Peng, and Jeff Leek

NYC crime rates by year/commissioner

NYC mayor-elect Bill de Blasio is expected to name William J. Bratton to lead the NYPD. Bratton has been commissioner before (1994-1996) so I was curious to see the crime rates during his tenure, which was within the period that saw an impressive drop (1990-2010). Here is the graph of violent crimes per 100,000 inhabitants for NYC NY state for year 1965-2012 (divided by commissioner). Will Bratton be able to continue the trend? The graph suggests to me that they have hit a “floor” (1960s levels!).

nycrimes

Data is here.