NYC killings may be lowest in several decades in 2018

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City could register its fewest homicides in several decades in 2018.

Preliminary data obtained by The Associated Press show that, as of Sunday, police had investigated five fewer killings than the 292 recorded in 2017. That year’s figure itself was the lowest in decades.

The city saw 2,245 homicides during its bloodiest year in 1990. Police say they also recorded a modest decline in shootings in 2018 and an 8 percent decline in robberies.

Criminal justice experts attributed the trend to the city’s practice of “precision policing” and an increasingly aggressive effort to remove illegal guns from the streets.

Prosecutors said New York’s 2018 crime statistics included the lowest number of homicides in Brooklyn since record-keeping began.