STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The New York City Police Department has released crime data for Staten Island for the month of January.
In what can be considered a positive development, the rate of crime on our borough through Jan. 28 was down considerably when compared to the same period in 2023, according to the NYPD’s latest CompStat figures.
Crime in 2024 was the lowest on Staten Island as it has been for that period of time since 2021.
The NYPD announced on Monday that crime in New York City dropped overall in January and remains down year to date.
“It is evident that the tremendous work being done by the men and women of the NYPD to confront gun violence head on continues to drive significant reductions in violence and disorder across many categories,” said Police Commissioner Edward A. Caban in a press release issued by the NYPD. “These intensive efforts are having ripple effects citywide, and are enhancing quality of life and increasing public safety on a large scale.”
INSIDE THE DATA
Amid a dramatic shift in NYPD strategy, crime has fallen after 2023 saw a surge on Staten Island. The NYPD enacted a tactical shift at the end of the summer, developing an intricate, multi-state system to gather and analyze intelligence as a strategy to crack down on car thefts and burglaries in particular, Assistant Chief Joseph Gulotta, the NYPD borough commander, told the Advance/SILive.com in a December interview.
“You could definitely feel that crime was up, your neighbors felt it, and everyone you spoke to felt it,” Gulotta said. “I was lucky enough to get assigned out here, kind of have a chance to do good in your own neighborhood and knock some of this crime down.”
Through Jan. 28, 2024, Staten Island saw a total of 219 reports of the seven major crimes — a drop of 24% when compared to the same time period in 2023 (289). The seven major crime are murder, rape, burglary, robbery, grand larceny auto, felony assault and grand larceny.
The only crime that increased during that period is rape. In 2023, there were three rapes reported compared to four in 2024.
Homicides remained the same in 2024 compared to 2023. In January, Carl Sutera, 59, of Sheldon Avenue in Huguenot, was indicted by a grand jury on murder charges stemming from the strangulation death of his 82-year-old mother.
Robberies decreased by 46% in 2024 (18 reported) compared to 2023 (33), CompStat data shows.
It seems that the Christmas cheer of December carried Islanders’ good mood through the majority of January, as felony assaults decreased by 22%, with 53 reported compared to 68 the previous January.
There were 14 burglaries reported in 2024 — down 52% from from 2023 when there were 29.
Grand larcenies saw a drop of 11%, with 109 reported through Jan. 28 compared to 123 instances over the same time period in 2023.
Twenty-one cases of grand larceny auto were reported this year, a 34% drop from the same time period in 2023, when 32 were reported.
Rape continues to be underreported. If you are a victim of sexual assault, please come forward. The 24-hour NYPD Special Victims Division hotline is: 212-267-RAPE (7273).
Related coverage: Staten Island Advance community safety survey
- Ranking 12 Staten Island ZIP codes based on how fed up residents are with drivers (survey)
- ‘It’s the entitled drivers... that get under my skin!’ Staten Islanders weigh in on fellow motorists (survey)
- Staten Island’s top cop details strategic shift NYPD used to combat N.J. car-theft, burglary crews
- Staten Island saw scary crime spike in 2023, but are there positive trends leading into 2024?
- Survey: More women than men think Staten Island is less safe. Here’s what changes they’ve made