Murder Is Down in New York City

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Here’s the latest from the New York Police Department:

That’s fewer murders, pal. Don’t let Twitter be an excuse for bad grammar. Our kids look up to you.

Originally, I was going to post this to show that, in fact, we’re probably not in the middle of a nationwide crime wave caused by the “Ferguson Effect.” Or if we are, it was short lived. But we won’t know that for a while.

However, when I heard about this I headed over to the NYPD website to see if they had a press release with more information. Not only did they not have such a thing, it turns out they don’t even issue press releases anymore except for their weekly traffic advisory. I originally heard about the crime stats from a reporter on Twitter who said he had received an email. On the NYPD site, I was informed that I could download their official app (iPhone or Android). Or I could scroll through their Twitter feed. Or I could listen to a podcast.

That’s it. Apparently the era of the press release is over, and the rest of us just don’t know it yet. That’s too bad. It may be old fashioned, but it does allow room for a wee bit more detail than a tweet.

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