James Zhao, Justin Brown,

Sumaia Akhand, & Yun Zhe Liu

Analysis of NYPD Arrests

in New York City

What this presentation is about:

• Our presentation focuses on major events and their impacts on crimes in NYC

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• We used Google sheets to clean our data and import to data visualization tools such as Tableau to create appealing visuals and perform our analysis

The Purpose of our NYPD Arrests Analysis:

Our Client:

• Identify the most frequent crimes being committed in NYC.
• Explore patterns of where and when these crimes are being committed.
• Establish reasons why these crimes may happen.

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• NYC Police Department
• Chief of Police, Kenneth Corey

What our presentation focuses on

A Closer Look at the Top Two Crimes in NYC and their relationship to unemployment

Examining the correlation between certain locations, months, and holidays to criminal activity

Analyzing Demographic Data and sexual offense crimes before and after COVID-19

Conclusion & Recommendations for our client

Effects of Legalization on Top Crimes and how that has affected arrest data in recent years

Examining the correlation between certain locations, months, and holidays to criminal activity

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Crime Rates by NYC Borough Between 2006 - 2021

• According to the visualization, Brooklyn and Manhattan has the most arrest records between 2006 - 2021.
• The largest concentrations of hot spots are found in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and also the Bronx, representing the most densely populated and urban parts of the city.

* K(Brooklyn), M(Manhattan), B(The Bronx), Q(Queens), S(Staten Island)

Numbers of Arrests in NYC Across Boroughs Between 2006 - 2021

• This visualization highlights crimes in NYC across five boroughs by total NYPD arrests from 2006 - 2021.
• We can see that the most popular destinations and locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and also the Bronx has the most crime rates as these places are visually darker than low crime rates areas. These locations appears to have a lot of assault, larceny and robbery crimes.
• We can also see that Staten Island has much lower crime rate than the other NYC boroughs. One reason for this is that Staten Island has the lowest population concentration than the other boroughs.

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Georeferenced Point Column based on Longitude and Latitude fields

Distribution of Crime Over Months in NYC Between 2006 - 2021

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• Crimes happened the most during January, March, May, and October, whereas November and December appear to be have lower arrest NYPD records. From this information, it is possible to assume a positive correlation between temperature and crime.
• We can see that crimes rates are lower during November and December. This indicates that people do not commit most crimes during the holidays.
• Also, crime rates starts to increase during summer time and it steadily decreases during winter.

NYPD Arrests During November & December Between 2006 - 2021

• According to previous visualization, for the month of November and December crime rates is lower than the other months. However, from this two graphs we can see that the top crime during November and December is assault. So, we can assume that November and December has the most violent crimes.
• Also, marijuana possession is in the second place during November and December due to a lower supply from cannabis harvests and colder weather keeping people inside.
• “The researchers note that the consistent dip in marijuana use during winter months could be a result of a variety of factors: a lower supply this time of year from cannabis harvests, colder weather keeping people inside who usually smoke outdoors…” (NYU).

NYPD Arrests During March & May Between 2006 - 2021

• We can see that the crime incident that has happened the most during March and May is marijuana possession and assault.
• Also, Larceny rank high during March and May between the years 2006 - 2021.

NYPD Arrests During January & October Between 2006 - 2021

• Also, We can see that the crime incident that has happened the most during January and October is marijuana possession and assault.
• Theft of services, Larceny, Robbery also rank high for January and October due to Halloween and New Year.
• Important to consider that Marijuana possession was higher up until 2018, however, after the legalization assault became the top crime in NYC.

Analyzing Demographic Data for NYC Sex Crime Arrests

2021 Total Percentage of Demographic Arrested in NYC

• The pie chart shows the demographic with the most percentage of arrests are Black individuals at 36%. White Hispanics as the second most arrested demographic at 30.4%.
• While the lowest known demographic arrests in Asian/Pacific Islander and White Communities.

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Number of Arrests Based on Borough of Each Community in 2021

• Taking a closer look we see for each borough, Black people are the highest number of arrested individuals across the board. While other races varies in arrests depending on each borough.
• Asian/Pacific Islander have the highest number of arrests in Queens due to the correlation the Asian/Pacific Islander Community population is the largest in the Queens borough.
• Likewise, other demographic arrests seem to have a correlation based on community population. Only the black demographic arrests seem not affected based on borough population.
• American Indian/Alaskan Native have the lowest known demographic percentage of arrests compared to other demographics most probably due to low population size.

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Increase in Sex Crime Rates from 2006 to 2020

• We see a significant increase in sex crimes from 2015 to 2019. Sex Crimes peaked in 2019 and numbers dropped drastically in 2020. Considering COVID-19 came to NYC in Feb 2020, there is a correlation between the decrease in the number of sex crimes was affected by the pandemic lockdown.
• In 2021, as lockdown regulations loosened, sex crimes numbers increased to 3,586. Showing, although the pandemic temporarily decreased sex crime rates, sex crime rates are still increasing through the years.
• The two demographics with the largest number of sex crime rates consistently growing each year are committed by Black and White Hispanic individuals.

Sex Criminals Arrested By Age Group and Race in 2021

• We can see the age group with the highest sex criminals arrested are between the ages 25 - 44 years old. With the largest demographic being Black individuals.

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• We can see the age group with the lowest sex criminals arrested are people 65 years old and up. With the smallest known demographic being American Indian/Alaskan individuals.

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A Closer Look at the Top Two Crimes in NYC

Larceny Arrests in 2021

Highest Crime Areas

Manhattan: Chelsea, 18th precinct

The Bronx: Highbridge, 44th precinct

Brooklyn: East New York, Starrett City, 75th precinct

Queens: Flushing, 109th precinct

Staten Island: Stapleton, 120th precinct

Lowest Crime Areas

Manhattan: Central Park, 22nd precinct

The Bronx: Hunts Point, 41st precinct

Brooklyn: Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, 76th precinct

Queens: The Rockaways, 100th precinct

Staten Island: Tottenville,123rd precinct

Larceny is the charge applied to thefts if the property stolen is a firearm, credit card, or vehicle, or if you steal from another's person.

*According to precinct below is a list of the highest and lowest crime areas.

Total Larceny Arrests in 2021

This bar graph shows the trend of amount of larceny arrests by each borough of NYC for 2021.

Color indicates details about: GRAND LARCENY, PETIT LARCENY and GRAND LARCENY OF MOTOR VEHICLE. Made from a pivot table of our Dataset in Google Sheets.

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This pie chart shows the total amount of larceny arrests in NYC for 2021.

Color indicates details about GRAND LARCENY, PETIT LARCENY and GRAND LARCENY OF MOTOR VEHICLE. Made from a pivot table of our Dataset in Google Sheets. Total amount of larceny: 21,030 arrests.

Assault Arrests in 2021

Highest Crime Areas

Manhattan: Midtown Business District, 14th Precinct

The Bronx: Wakefield, Williamsbridge, 47th precinct

Brooklyn: East New York, Starrett City, 75th precinct

Queens: Astoria, Long Island City, 114th precinct

Staten Island: Stapleton, 120th precinct

Lowest Crime Areas

Manhattan: Central Park, 22nd precinct

The Bronx: Kings Bridge, 50th precinct

Brooklyn: Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, 76th precinct

Queens: Bayside, 111th; Forest Hills, 112th precinct

Staten Island: Tottenville,123rd precinct

Assault is an intentional attempt to physically injure another whether it’s hitting, punching, spitting on or kicking the victim

*According to precinct below is a list of the highest and lowest crime areas.

This bar graph shows the trend of amount of assault arrests by each borough of NYC for 2021. Color indicates details about ASSAULT 3 & RELATED OFFENSES and FELONY ASSAULT. Made from a pivot table of our Dataset in Google Sheets.

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Total Assault Arrests in 2021

This pie chart shows the total amount of assault arrests in NYC for 2021.

Color indicates details about ASSAULT 3 & RELATED OFFENSES and FELONY ASSAULT. Made from a pivot table of our Dataset in Google Sheets. Total amount of assault: 42,434 arrests

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Effects of Legalization on Top Crimes

How did legalization have an impact on the types of crimes in NYC?

Criminal Activity has been going down even before the first Covid case hit NYC presumably due to better public perception leading to more laxer Marijuana and possession legislations.

NYC covid cases began around Mar. 2020 and new cases reached an all time high around Jan. 2022.

Criminal Cases

Year

“In July 2019, New York enacted legislation signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo on July 29, 2019 that further expanded the decriminalization of recreational use of cannabis in the State of New York, but did not legalize it.”

Total criminal arrests in NY from 2006-2020

Legalization - the action of making something that was previously illegal permissible by law.

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In this context, the legalization of Marijuana.

2021

154,114

NYC covid cases began around Mar. 2020 and new cases reached an all time high around Jan. 2022

“In July 2019, New York enacted legislation signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo on July 29, 2019 that further expanded the decriminalization of recreational use of cannabis in the State of New York, but did not legalize it.”

“The NYPD arrested and jailed nearly 400,000 people for possessing small amounts of marijuana between 1997 and 2007” (https://www.nyclu.org/en/publications/report-marijuana-arrest-crusade-2008)

Total NYPD arrests between 2006-2021

Around 2011, Annual Stop-and-Frisks peaked around 685,724 stops (https://www.nyclu.org/en/stop-and-frisk-data)

Assault and Larceny(theft of personal property) consistently takes the top spots among all crimes committed while Marijuana fell off of top 12 crimes committed after 2018

Top Crimes in New York from 2006-2021

“In July 2019, New York enacted legislation signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo on July 29, 2019 that further expanded the decriminalization of recreational use of cannabis in the State of New York, but did not legalize it.”

Year

Criminal Cases

Marijuana drops off of top 12 crimes committed after year 2018. From 6% of total arrests in 2018 to less than 3% in 2019.

Count of top 12 crimes in NY in 2018

Marijuana arrests top the arrest rates in 2011 being 21% of the crimes committed and passing total assault arrests at 16%

Count of top 12 crimes in NY in 2011

Assault is the most common crime in recent years. Total assault charges are over 30% of all crimes committed in 2021. Larceny follows closely behind.

Conclusion & Recommendations

Conclusion

• As the recreational use of marijuana becomes more normalized, legislations will follow allowing laxer control of possession of marijuana and leading to lesser arrests involving the use of marijuana.

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• The largest concentrations of popular NYC locations are found in Manhattan, Brooklyn. Therefore, crimes rate are much higher in Manhattan and Brooklyn than the other NYC boroughs.

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• There seems to be a exponential growth in sex crimes in recent years and it didn’t seem to slow down even after the pandemic. Majority of the sex crimes committed were related to child endangerment.

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Recommendations

We recommend that the NYPD, focus on preventative measures in high crime rates by through following suggestions:

• Maintaining and increasing uniformed foot patrols in the identified high crime areas in NYC, especially during peak hours, weekends, and during special city-wide events.
• Implementing broader city-wide campaigns aimed at informing visitors, commuters, and locals about the risk of larceny and robbery, including proactive ways to prevent it.
• Increase security focusing on dangerous or possibly dangerous weapons and warn people to be more aware of individuals that may carry weapons.
• NYPD should take sex crime cases more seriously to reduce the increase of sex crime rates. Provide adequate quality training to SVD investigators and officers. Collaborate with community-based outreach programs on how to strategize the best way to combat the increase of sex crimes.

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Resources

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• Harrison, Rachel (January 2021). Marijuana Use Typically Drops at the Beginning of the Year, Then Climbs in Summer and Fall. NYU News. https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2021/january/marijuana-seasonal-use.html.
• https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Public-Safety/NYPD-Arrests-Data-Historic-/8h9b-rp9u
• https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/new-york-covid-cases.html
• https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1x8G8lcOrSP9yr4EUv45E5iE0iBXvAr58/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=117483548180798955069&rtpof=true&sd=true

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