How New York is becoming the safest big city in America - New York, New York - Cover Story

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), Jan, 1997 by Rudolph W. Giuliani

NEW YORK is just about the safest big city in America. Some people may find that hard to believe. They still see old movies and television programs that show New York as a hotbed of robbery and murder. Because the city is the media capital of the world, crime in die five boroughs sometimes receives the sort of high-profile coverage that revives outdated stereotypes about New York being a very dangerous place to live and work.

In fact, just the Opposite is true. in 1996, New York cut its crime rate by 38%, compared to 1993. New Yorkers and their world-class police department have taken forceful control of the city's crime problem. Felony crime rates have fallen to levels that haven't been seen in a generation. Murder is down almost 50%, and there has been a 42% decline in robberies and a 46% drop in auto theft.

Even compared with smaller cities, New York does well. In 1995 - among the 203 American municipalities with populations exceeding 100,000 - New York ranked 150th in crime (down from 88th in 1993). Meanwhile, the New York Police Department (NYPD) is mounting a comprehensive citywide anti-drug campaign that promises to reduce crime even further.

Yet, some people still aren't convinced. They say that its lower crime rates simply are part of a national reduction in crime. That explanation doesn't hold, however. National trends are determined by what happens in local communities. In reality, the drop in national crime rates is not the cause of New York's successful fight against crime, but a result of it.

According to the FBI's Preliminary Uniform Crime Report for 1995, New York - which accounts for slightly more than three percent of the nation's crime - was responsible for 70% of the decline for the entire country. New York accounted for nearly 23% of the drop in homicide and nearly 35% of the reduction in robbery. New York isn't following a national trend, but setting it.

What is New York doing differently? Why have we been so successful in the fight against crime@ Part of the answer is that we have been working effectively to get our communities involved in public safety programs. Most of all, we have been deploying our newly unified police department @the Housing and Transit Police Departments now are part of the NYPD) as never before. Until recently, the city's police officers were not being used to full advantage. Like many police departments, the NYPD lacked strategic direction and oversight. It could deal effectively with individual crimes, but wasn't as effective at preventing diem and reversing crime trends.

Today is a different story. We have made fundamental changes in the way the department does its work. We established separate, detailed strategies for dealing with guns, youth crime, drugs, domestic violence, and auto-related theft, and paid special attention to the key objective of enhancing the quality of life in public spaces.

As a result, the crime fighting talent of a great police organization has been unleashed. For example, the NYPD began interrogating all arrestees - even those detained for minor crimes - about guns, drugs, and unsolved felonies. In this way, it developed a surprising number of leads, which in turn generated search warrants, multiple gun and drug arrests, rests, and even homicide arrests. We found that enforcing laws against relatively minor crimes such as public drinking or not wearing a motorcycle helmet were helping to solve far more serious cases involving gun and drug dealers and other dangerous criminals.

Indeed, a nationally publicized beating that occurred in Central Park in June, 1996, and other crime - including the murder of a Park Avenue storekeeper - were solved because the perpetrator previously had been arrested for subway fare evasion, so the police had his fingerprints on file.

There is an even better reason for the police to make arrests for minor violations. I am a firm believer in the theory that "minor" crimes and "quality-of-life" offenses are all part of the larger picture. The "broken window" theory of James Q. Wilson of Harvard University has been applied successfully in America's largest city. Wilson says a broken window that goes unrepaired is a visible sign that no one cares. It attracts additional vandalism, which soon escalates into serious crime.

Graffiti, blaring car radios, street prostitution, drag racing and drunk driving, low-level drug dealing, public drinking and urination, squeegee window cleaners, and other aggressive beggars are, in effect, society's "broken windows." They create an atmosphere conducive to more serious crime. If we allow quality-of-life offenses to run rampant, we might as well post a sign that says: "No one is in control here; anything goes."

In New York, we are working hard to fix our "broken windows." We have proven that public officials and police departments should not ignore minor offenses. One graffiti defacement or one loud radio may not seem like much of a problem, but criminals thrive in chaotic environments. Small problems can be the first step to big trouble. Neighborhoods scarred by graffiti or blasted day and night by boom-box radios will become besieged, vulnerable, and ultimately dangerous places. If police departments surrender on the small issues - using the excuse that they are too busy dealing with "serious" crime - they soon will find themselves surrendering to the latter as well.