According to NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, NYC's murder rate continues to plummet. Two months into 2013, it's already decreased by 33 percent. Kelly credits a special trick for the Big Apple's drop in homicides this year: watching social media trends to monitor gang activity.
Speaking with the New York Post, Kelly said "My idea, the Crew Cut concept, focuses on this directly." Operation Crew Cut successfully used the activity of users who have been identified as gang members to bring charges for alleged crimes.
Last year, the operation led the arrests of 49 alleged gang members in East New York. A police source told the Post “If you have a victim who is assaulted, they won’t talk to police...But when gang members threaten each other on Facebook, that’s enough to get a conspiracy charge.”
New York saw a record-low in homicides last year, and they're hoping these tactics will help them reach a new low in 2013.
[via Gothamist]
