Nearly half of New Yorkers disbelieve stats showing city has gotten safer, cop union’s poll shows
A poll commissioned by the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association shows 48% of New Yorkers don’t believe stats showing the city’s gotten safer.
Pat Lynch, head of the union, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, sought to link that statistic to Mayor de Blasio, whom he has regularly criticized.
Lynch in a statement said “nearly half of New Yorkers think that the decreasing crime statistics being presented by Mayor de Blasio are false.”
But the question about crime statistics presented to 500 likely voters makes no mention of de Blasio.
Summer 2016 safest for NYC in 25 years despite J’Ouvert violence
And a union spokesman wouldn’t directly answer when asked if Lynch believes the statistics, which are compiled by the NYPD based largely on reports filled out by officers, are being manipulated to make the city seem safer than what it is.
“It’s clear from the poll’s results that nearly half of respondents believe they are and don’t reflect what they’re seeing in their communities,” the spokesman said. “This is a serious issue that the mayor and police commissioner should not dismiss.”
Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch blames Mayor de Blasio for residents’ apparent mistrust of crime stats.
The NYPD fired back against what it called a “limited poll.”
“The only thing false about the NYPD statistics showing decreased crime in the city is the narrative being purposely promulgated by the PBA.” said Deputy Commissioner Stephen Davis, the NYPD’s top spokesman. “Over the past 20 years crime in New York City has been on a downward trend and 2016 appears to be on track to record historic lows…These numbers are not perceptions.
PBA survey says NYPD morale at rock bottom under de Blasio
“They are reality.”
Mayoral spokesman Austin Finan said you can’t fake record crime decreases and that City Hall has “absolute trust in the NYPD’s performance standards and measurements.”
Serious crime is down 4% through Nov. 27, with murders down 6% and shootings down 10%.
The PBA’s poll shows 48% of New Yorkers believe the city is heading in the wrong direction, compared to 37% who hold the opposite.
The survey was conducted by the polling firm McLaughlin & Associates, though the union would not say how much it cost.
The results were largely favorable to police, with 76% of those questioned approving of the job done by officers – and 70% saying they’d like to see more police patrols in their neighborhood.
But 48% said the city is heading in the wrong direction, compared to 37% who said the opposite.
Quality of life is getting worse, according to 42% of those questioned, with 50% saying there is more aggressive panhandling and begging.
“The bottom line is, this poll shows that New Yorkers are uneasy about a lot of things occurring under the de Blasio administration,” Lynch said, “but the work being performed by New York City police officers is not one of them.”
Lynch and other police unions have said the job of police officer is more dangerous than ever and that the Mayor and City Council have hamstrung officers by advocating for fewer street stops and by earlier this year decriminalizing a number of low-level offenses.
WITH JENNIFER FERMINO
