(The Crime Report) New York City, the U.S. epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, has seen a 75 percent increase in reports of burglaries of commercial establishments since March 12, when Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a state of emergency, reports the Wall Street Journal, citing statistics provided by the New York Police Department (NYPD)…
A March 20 decree by Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for the closure of all nonessential businesses.
The measures have emptied some of New York’s major shopping thoroughfares, like Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue. Some luxury shops have boarded their storefronts.
“We knew with the closing of many stores that we could see an increase and, unfortunately, we are,” said NYPD Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael LiPetri.
Crime in the Big Apple was up about 12 percent over the first three months of the year — with 2,500 more major felonies in 2020, NYPD stats show.
Among the NYPD statistics from the first quarter of 2020:
- Car thefts spiked 65.5%, from 943 to 1,561
- 685 more robberies were reported for a 25.2% increase
- Burglaries jumped by 21.9% with 533 more reported
- 486 additional grand larcenies occurred, a 5.2% uptick
- 117 more assaults were reported for a 2.6% increase
