Murders in New York down 29% Just This Year, Thanks to Ray Kelly!

Originally posted July 23, 2013.

I have followed Ray Kelly’s career for years. There is not a more competent American in public service. I would love to see Ray named homeland security chief. Ray Kelly in his own words details the progress he’s made in New York City.

So far this year, murders are down 29% from the 50-year low achieved in 2012, and we’ve seen the fewest shootings in two decades.

To critics, none of this seems to much matter. Sidestepping the fact that these policies work, they continue to allege that massive numbers of minorities are stopped and questioned by police for no reason other than their race.

Never mind that in each of the city’s 76 police precincts, the race of those stopped highly correlates to descriptions provided by victims or witnesses to crimes. Or that in a city of 8.5 million people, protected by 19,600 officers on patrol (out of a total uniformed staff of 35,000), the average number of stops we conduct is less than one per officer per week.