NY City murders up 20% in 2015 over Jan-Feb. 2014 despite 12 murder-free days in Feb. Five worst precincts include 3 in Brooklyn, 1 in Bronx, 1 in Queens. 7 drug related deaths involved marijuana dealers-NY Daily News

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3/2/15, "Murders up 20% in 2015 in year-to-year comparison, NYPD says," NY Daily News, by Rocco Parascandola , Tina Moore , Bill Hutchinson 

"The murder rate in New York City has spiked an alarming 20% in the first two months of the year, prompting NYPD brass to rethink strategy to curb the deadly trend.

Since Jan. 1, 54 murders have been recorded in the city, up nine from the same period a year ago, according to the grim stats released Monday.

Shootings have also climbed 20% — with 149 so far in 2015 compared with 126 in the first two months of 2014.

But overall, crime has dropped 11% in most major crime categories, including burglary, robbery, rape, grand larceny and auto theft.

The bump in killings came despite a 12-day span over the first two weeks of February when no murders were recorded.

NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said the rise in killings and shootings should not be taken as indications of “the bad old days roaring back.”

“This is something that we’ve got our arms around, something we have every confidence we can identify motives and basically focus on that,” Bratton said Monday.

Breaking down the deadly data, Bratton said most of the killings and shootings have been concentrated in five of the city’s 77 police precincts.

The department hopes to curb the violence by beefing up patrols in the troubled precincts — which include the 

46th Precinct in the Bronx, the 
102nd Precinct in Queens and the 
67th, 63rd and 75th Precincts in Brooklyn
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“At this stage of the game, this is not a precursor of (the) worst to come,” Bratton said. “My sense is we have a pretty good handle on it.”

The city would record 324 murders by year’s end at this pace, which would be less than the 328 murders across the five boroughs in 2014, the lowest since 1963. The murder count for 2013 was 335.

At least 19 of the slayings this year were the result of robberies, burglaries, gang warfare or drug dealing.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said each of the seven drug-related murders this year involved marijuana dealers being targeted. “These are not turf battles. These are ripoffs of marijuana dealers,” Boyce said.

At least eight murders were attributed to domestic violence, including that of a 3-year-old Brooklyn boy allegedly beaten to death last week by his belt-wielding aunt. 

A dozen other slayings were sparked by various disputes, while four were reclassified as murders after the victims died from wounds suffered before the start of the year. Motives in at least nine murders remained unknown. One killing was deemed an accident and one justified, cops said."...

 
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