http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-...ticle-1.1566572The NYPD has won great praise for bringing crime down to historic lows. But lost amid the fanfare is a growing segment of New Yorkers like Rayside: Those waiting for justice in the murders of their loved ones. About 1,500 murders have gone unsolved over the last decade.
The number of homicides in 2013 dipped to 334 — the lowest tally since the NYPD started keeping track in the early 1960s. The number represents a 41% decline over the past decade. Given the decrease in murders, some argue that the NYPD should be using this opportunity to get more killers off the streets.
“There are thousands of murderers walking around who haven’t been brought to justice,” said Andy Rosenzweig, a former NYPD lieutenant and ex-chief investigator for the Manhattan district attorney’s office. “It’s horrifying.”
The News reviewed the status of last year’s homicides, detective staffing at each precinct and borough command over the past two decades. It also looked at trends in the city’s clearance rate — the number of arrests made in homicide cases during a 12-month period, as a percentage of homicides reported during that time.
The News found that as the homicide rate plummeted in the 1990s and activity on the cold case squad was at an all-time high, the clearance rate shot up to over 80% during the final years of the decade. But then the clearance rate started to drop again, and has since averaged around 70%.
The NYPD’s Cold Case Squad had about 50 detectives when it was formed in 1996. Now there are about eight.
The number of murders solved has gone down, too. In 2000, records show the NYPD solved 533, including murders that occurred during previous years. In 2012, that number was 314 — a 41% decrease.
“If we had more staffing, and if we were able to focus more on the unsolved homicides, I’m sure the clearance rate would be higher,” Palladino said.
Former Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, who ran the department for 12 years under Mayor Bloomberg, disagreed.
“The homicide squads are always pretty well staffed. As a matter of fact they do other things because the number of murders is way down,” Kelly told The News. “I think the clearance rate is going to remain at roughly 70%, give or take. That’s just the way it is. There are … certain homicides that will never be solved. We don’t necessarily want to make that public, but that’s just the way it is.”
