Police look to bring down crime rates in 2023

(NewsNation) — Going into 2023, police departments around the country will continue to explore ways to bring down crime rates.

2022 was a challenging year for many departments in some of the nation’s largest cities. In New York City, murders and shootings were down for the year. But crimes like rape, robberies, burglaries and assaults were all higher than they were a year ago.

Transit crime was also up, by nearly 30 percent. Close to a dozen people were killed in the city’s subway system in the past year. The NYPD deployed more officers to subway stations from around the city hoping the increased visibility would discourage people from committing crimes or attacking commuters.

Roughly two hours south in Philadelphia, the city surpassed 500 homicides, according to city statistics. When it comes to gun violence, 465 victims were shot and killed, while 1,787 were shot but survived.

Still, the murder rate is lower than it was in 2021, when 562 people were murdered in the city of brotherly love.

In Chicago, it’s a similar story, where as of Dec. 19, 674 people were killed in the windy city. It’s a jarring number, but still better than last year when 800 people were killed.

In Los Angeles, homicides were up nearly 15 percent, robberies 16 percent and grand theft auto up 23 percent with close to 22,000 vehicles stolen in 2022.

But crime isn’t just a problem for large cities. In places like Baltimore, Memphis, Nashville, Portland and Seattle, surging crime numbers were reported.

All of this has happened against a backdrop of police officers retiring early or leaving the profession due to low pay, low morale and higher risk.