This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

No murders have been reported in New York City since Super Bowl Sunday, a record stretch since the city began tracking such data in 1994.

The New York Police Department (NYPD) confirmed on Saturday morning that no murders were reported overnight in the city of 8.4 million, making for the first recorded 12-day homicide-free stretch.

Experts say a series of cold snaps sweeping the city have helped, keeping New Yorkers indoors and out of trouble. New York is braced for four more days of extremely cold weather. With wind chills taken into account, temperatures are expected to drop as low as -20F (-28C) on Sunday, prompting warnings from officials.

“Stay indoors if you don’t have to be out,” mayor Bill de Blasio urged on Friday.

On Saturday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo added a warning of his own, saying: “New Yorkers should take every appropriate precaution as subzero temperatures and blizzard-like conditions hit the state this weekend.

“This weather can be extremely dangerous for everyone from children to the elderly, so I encourage people to stay indoors whenever possible and stay safe.”

The National Weather Service has predicted that temperatures at LaGuardia Airport in Queens may drop to their lowest since 1943, and Central Park may experience its lowest temperature since 1888.

According to the New York Post, the most recent murder in New York City occurred in Harlem on 1 February, when two gunmen opened fire on five people at a deli. The shooting left a 28-year-old father dead and injured four others.



The new record comes on the heels of a historic year in New York City crime. Last year, murders reported to the NYPD dropped to 328, the lowest figure since the department began collecting reliable statistics in 1963.

Over the last two decades, US rates for crimes such as murder, rape and robbery have plummeted. From 1994 to 2013, the most recent year for which the FBI has data, the US rate of violent crimes fell by almost half, from about 713 violent crimes per 100,000 residents to 367 violent crimes per 100,000 residents.

The trend plays out in New York City, where recently-released NYPD figures show that crimes reported in the city have fallen precipitously. Since 1993, murders are down 79.7%, robbery is down 82% and serious assaults are down 57.9%. Rape, a statistic complicated by victims’ reticence to report such attacks, is down 52.7%.