It should be noted, however, that some experts fear the news of a crime free day in NYC will lull citizens into a false sense of security. By this time last year, 472 murders had occurred in the city, while his year’s count currently stands at 366.

This dramatic drop of 23% compared to last year, a 50 year low murder rate for the city, is accompanied by other increases in non violent crime, however. Although theft has increased by 9% citywide, the aggressive and proactive tactics the NYPD are taking to tackle crime in New York are being praised as a key factor responsible for deflating crime rates to a mere fraction of that of other cities, and providing a safer environment in which NYC citizens are free to live and work. The controversial Stop-and-Frisk policy is among the most highly praised.

Some groups argue that stopping residents in the street is unnecessary, and a large proportion of the 684,000 people stopped in 2011 were searched without cause, the NYPD report that almost one in five of those stopped were guilty of some crime. The police force argue that this policy does in fact give police greater power to detect and prevent crime on the streets of New York.