You are reading

Queens has Lowest Murder Rate Since 1961 But Borough Faces Drug Crisis

Gavel on desk. Isolated with good copy space. Dramatic lighting.

Jan. 9, 2018 By Tara Law

Serious crime in Queens dropped by 7.9 percent last year but the number of opiate deaths was “staggering,” the Queens District Attorney announced Tuesday.

In the last year, Queens experienced an 18 percent drop in auto crimes, a 4.8 percent drop in robberies, a 3.1 percent drop in felony assaults and a 1.9 percent drop in rapes, the Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said.

In 2017, there were 50 homicides, the second lowest number of homicides since 1961,” Brown said, noting that “it was the year John F. Kennedy was president and his namesake airport here in Queens was known as Idlewild Airport.”

The drop in crime is part of a long term trend for the borough. In the past 24 years, overall crime has fallen by 82.1 percent, Brown said.

In that time, murders dropped by 82 percent, burglaries by 87.9 percent, rapes by 44.6 percent, felony assaults by 42.7 percent and auto thefts by 96.9 percent.

Despite the drop in overall crime, a new blight is claiming Queens lives, Brown said. In 2017, more than three times as many people died from opiate overdoses compared to homicides.

In the last year, 172 people died in suspected overdoses. The district attorney attributed the spike in part to heroin mixed with fentanyl, an opiate 30 to 50 times more potent than heroin.

“These two drugs combined is a deadly cocktail,” Brown said.

email the author: news@queenspost.com

2 Comments

Click for Comments 
Billy

This is the result of recent demographic trends just like the crime increases of the 70’s, 80’s & 90’s were the result of demographic trends of the times.

1
1
Reply

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Catch the fall vibe at these western Queens breweries

Sep. 3, 2025 By Jessica Militello

September rings in the start of Oktoberfest from mid-September through October, featuring special brews, fun events and more fall fun. Western Queens is filled with breweries to enjoy seasonal brews, fall flavors and the start of cooler weather as Autumn approaches, making it a perfect time to meet up with friends at these local spaces.

Op-Ed | Four years after Hurricane Ida, Queens deserves real climate resilience

Sep. 2, 2025 By Assembly Member Jessica González-Rojas

Four years ago, Hurricane Ida tore through our neighborhoods of East Elmhurst, Corona and Jackson Heights, leaving behind devastation we will never forget. We lost neighbors to the floodwaters. Families saw their homes destroyed, their basements wiped out, their lives upended. Immigrant families—so many of them undocumented—were hit the hardest, often excluded from relief altogether. Ida was not just a storm; it was a wake-up call.