NYPD launches summer crackdown to reduce violent crime
NEW YORK (WABC) -- The NYPD is bringing back its summer-time effort to reduce shootings and murders throughout the city.
One of the most alarming examples of street crime came just this weekend.
New surveillance video showed six men who police are looking for after one of them opened fire at officers outside the Redfern Houses in Queens.
Three shots were fired and three shell casings found.
But no one was injured and the suspects are still on the run.
This comes as the NYPD kicks off its "Summer All Out" initiative to cut down on violence throughout the city a month earlier than last year. Under the plan, more than 330 additional officers will patrol neighborhoods where shootings and assaults have increased.
More than 330 extra police officers will patrol specific neighborhoods, like East New York, where there have been eleven murders this year. More officers will also be assigned to work peak shifts in East Flatbush and St. Albans and Hollis, Queens.
New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton says a slight uptick in crime last month is not because of a drop in the department's use of the stop, question and frisk technique.
For the month of May, shootings and homicides were up. There have been 136 murders through the end of May, compared to 113 this time last year. That's prompted media reports and political hand-wringing that some of the practices embraced by Mayor Bill de Blasio were emboldening criminals.
Bratton said Monday that is not the case.
He cites 2011, when stops were at an all-time high of 685,000 but crime rose.
Last year, when there were about 48,000 stops, overall crime was down and homicides reached an all-time low.
Bratton says stop and frisk is not a significant factor in the city's crime rate. He says he wants officers to make appropriate, lawful stops.
The "Summer All Out" initiative also focuses on public housing projects, but NYCHA houses have seen less violence this year, with a 13 percent decrease in shootings from last year.
