In the wake of the murder of two New York City police officers, the number of arrests made and summonses issued in the city have dropped significantly, The New York Times reported.
"Officers made half as many arrests in the seven days through Sunday as in the same week a year ago," according to the Times. "In the entire city, 347 criminal summonses were written, down from 4,077 a year ago, according to police statistics. Parking and traffic tickets also dropped by more than 90 percent."
Many officers appear to be using their own discretion to mostly ignore low-level offenses, according to the Times, but police union leaders deny that any organized effort to curb enforcement is underway.
Almost every category of arrest has seen a decline, including gun possession and drunk driving. Citywide, officers made a total of 2,401 arrests, compared to 5,448 in the same week last year - a 56 percent decline. Arrests for major felonies declined to 472 from 568.
All three categories of summons activity have also seen significant decline - parking violations are down 93 percent (from 16,008 to 1,191), traffic infractions are down 92 percent (from 9,349 to 749) and low-level crimes are down 91 percent, the Times reported.
At a Monday news conference, William J. Bratton, the city's police commissioner, said the department's leadership is actively working to determine the cause for the decline.
Bratton proposed a few theories: the police protests last month, the mourning period for the two slain officers, the holiday season, and a decline in 911 calls, the Times reported.
"I will look very specifically - precinct by precinct, tour of duty by tour of duty, sector car by sector car, officer by officer - and we will deal with it very appropriately, if we have to," he said. "We may see that things begin to return to normal on their own volition."
The conference was held to highlight an overall drop in crime in New York City. Stop-and-frisk incidents have decreased significantly and robberies and murders have dropped to their lowest levels since 1963, according to Bratton.
