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How Safe is Brooklyn, New York? Neighborhood Crime Statistics

CRIME & SAFETY: Brooklyn Crime Statistics

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City Website Helps Residents Find Out about Types of Crime, Rates of Crime in Brooklyn

The government of the City of New York has provided an interesting, interactive online tool with data about annual trends in crime statistics in Brooklyn.

Log onto the NYC "My Neighborhood Statistics" website.
The program works by street name, not by neighborhood. So, if you are considering moving to a given neighborhood, plug in a street address in that neighborhood. Or, type in the name of an actual address for an apartment of interest.
The site will display a series of statistics for that address, by New York City Community Board.

This site won't simply say whether a neighborhood is "safe," or "dangerous." It gives data,not interpretation. You can compare the statistics in a given area over a period of years, and in comparison to other neighborhoods.

The downside of this data is that Community Boards typically cover large swaths of territory that are not exactly the same as the commonly accepted neighborhood boundaries. So, for instance, Community Board 6 covers several low-income housing projects as well as areas of multimillion dollar homes in South Brooklyn.

What You Can Learn from "My Neighborhood Statistics" about Brooklyn

Among other categories, the system lists:

Burglary
Domestic Violence
Rape
Grand Larceny
Grand Larceny Auto
Hate Crimes
Major Felony
Murder and Non-Negligent Manslaughter
Robbery

What's Not Reported

This website is only as good as the data, which is only as good as the city's crime reporting system. And, in late 2011, disturbing reports of possible underreporting of crimes by the NY Police Department surfaced. See the NY Times story, "Police Tactic: Keeping Crime Reports Off the Books".