New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner William Bratton said crime is continuing to go down on Tuesday, the same day the officer involved in an illegal choke hold death was indicted of all charges, according to the New York Times.
According to police statistics, crime has fallen 4.4 percent and homicides are down 6.8 percent since last year in November 2013, according to the Times.
De Blasio said that the months of August through September have been the safest since 1993, the Times reported.
"We always talk about bringing crime down and keep communities safer while at the same time bringing police and communities closer together," de Blasio said, according to the Times. "We are seeing that happen."
Since last year, rape and robberies have decreased, but shootings were up slightly, the Times reported.
Bratton said the city's transit system, which serves between 5.5 and 6 million people daily, averages five crimes a day, according to the Times.
The crime reduction announcement came during a news conference about public safety successes at a Brooklyn housing project where crime has fallen, the Times reported.
During the news conference, de Blasio also touched on the changes he's implemented to the NYPD during the the time the public was awaiting the jury decision, according to the Times.
A judge ruled that the NYPD's stop-and-frisk discriminated against minorities, but in 2014, the NYPD were still stopping and frisking, the Times reported. Stop and frisk has fallen by 79 percent.
Later this week, the NYPD will debut a pilot program to equip some officers with body cameras, according to the Times.
During the announcements, Bratton also said protests would not be stopped, but any form of illegal activity would not be tolerated, the Times reported.
"We have the ability to have a level of tolerance - breathing room, if you will. People have a right to demonstrate, to protest. But if they engage in criminal activity like vandalism or actual crime, they'll get arrested, it's quite simple," Bratton said, according to the Times.
