New York City - Homicide Up By 20% This Year

New York City - Homicide ratse so far in 2006 are at a 20% increase. There have been 63 homicides in the city so far this year, an increase from the same point last year, when there were 53.

But the Police Department says the numbers are not a cause for concern.
"The increase is in the context of an all-time record low for last January for all crime," the chief spokesman for the Police Department, Paul Browne, said. "Even so, we recorded one less homicide this January compared to January last year." There were 44 homicides in January, versus 45 last year.