New York ★ Drugs ★ Prostituation ★ Money ★ Violent crime in New York City has been dropping since 1990. In 2012, there were 414 homicides, the lowest number since at least 1963 when reliable statistics were first kept.[2][3] Crime rates spiked in the 1980s and early 1990s as the crack epidemic hit the city.[4][5]During the 1990s the New York City Police Department (NYPD) adopted CompStat, broken windows policing and other strategies in a major effort to reduce crime. The city's dramatic drop in crime has been attributed by criminologists to policing tactics, the end of the crack epidemic and - controversially - the legalization of abortion approximately 18 years previous[4][5] and the decline of lead poisoning of children.[6] Most of the crime remaining occurs in poor areas, which tend to be outlying.