Say what you will about New York City turning into a police state (and I’ve said plenty) but it does work. According to the New York Times, New York City is on pace to have its lowest murder rate on record.

The Times reports that by December 27, the city had 461 murders, 35 less than the city had in 2007 when the city had less than 500 murders for the first time.

Pretty good considering as recently as 1990 the city saw more than 2,200 murders in one year.

At the same time, the city’s current deficit will undoubtedly lead to thousands of ...continue reading]]> http://www.nycmagazine.com/2009/12/29/nyc-murder-rate-at-record-low/feed/ 0 http://www.nycmagazine.com/2009/12/25/nyc-wastes-tens-of-millions-on-pot-arrests-12-of-all-arrests-are-marijuana-charges/ http://www.nycmagazine.com/2009/12/25/nyc-wastes-tens-of-millions-on-pot-arrests-12-of-all-arrests-are-marijuana-charges/#comments Fri, 25 Dec 2009 14:00:43 +0000 Igor Derysh http://www.nycmagazine.com/?p=1035

For all the talk about crime statistics in New York City, the irony of all ironies is that the taxpayer is charged tens of millions of dollars every year so that cops can arrest people for harmlessly smoking a pot.

According to a recent study, around 12% of all arrests in New York City are on marijuana charges, something that was rarely done until Rudy Giuliani and, even more so, Michael Bloomberg installed policies to make their crime statistics look good by going after pot smokers.

Of course the crime stats improved under Giuliani and Bloomberg, the two mayors saw marijuana arrests surge ...continue reading]]> http://www.nycmagazine.com/2009/12/25/nyc-wastes-tens-of-millions-on-pot-arrests-12-of-all-arrests-are-marijuana-charges/feed/ 0 http://www.nycmagazine.com/2009/12/06/store-owner-shows-mercy-to-broke-robber/ http://www.nycmagazine.com/2009/12/06/store-owner-shows-mercy-to-broke-robber/#comments Mon, 07 Dec 2009 00:09:07 +0000 Igor Derysh http://www.nycmagazine.com/?p=850

In an unlikely feel good story, a would-be robber had his attempt thwarted by a shotgun wielding store owner, only to walk away with $40 and a loaf of bread.

The incident originally occurred in May.

As store owner Mohammad Sohail was closing up shop around midnight, a robber carrying a bat demanded that he empty out his register. Rather than complying, Sohail quickly grabbed a shotgun that he kept under his counter.

The robber quickly dropped his bat and began to plead with Sohail explaining that he had lost his job and could not feed ...continue reading]]> http://www.nycmagazine.com/2009/12/06/store-owner-shows-mercy-to-broke-robber/feed/ 0