Reported crime is still plummeting in New York City, continuing a trend that began 15 years ago, says the New York Daily News. Yet many residents worried about the battered economy think crime is actually surging – an impression that does not surprise experts. “Without question, the bad economy has created a sense that crime must – must – be going up,” said criminologist David Kennedy of John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “All objective information says things are no worse, and maybe a little better, but residents think things are going in a ditch,” he said. “It doesn’t matter which neighborhood they live in.”
A canvass of several neighborhoods by Daily News reporters bears that out. Many locals don’t trust the encouraging statistics that show the city’s 75th police precinct has experienced a 25.8 percent reduction in robbery and a 17.4 percent drop in grand larceny all while the number of murders has held steady. “You can’t sit on a bench because you are scared there will be shootings,” said Tianna Sanchez, 20. Kennedy believes New York will avoid a significant crime increase, no matter how dire the economic forecast.