For the second time in less than a year, an entire day went by without a single person being shot, stabbed or slashed in the city on Thursday, the Daily News has learned.
The last time the city saw a 24-hour blood-free streak, on Nov. 26, 2012, no one could recall a similar occurrence.
Even at a time of record drops in murders, there are an average of 3.6 people shot each day in the city.
“In the last month, we have seen the NYPD do the following: prevent a single homicide from occurring for an entire week — a first in New York City; catch the killer in a 22-year-old murder; and now pull off the feat of no murders, no shootings and no stabbings for an entire day in a city of 8.4 million,” a spokesman for Mayor Bloomberg said.
“The examples of why we have the finest police department in the world just keep coming.”
As Bloomberg and NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly are set to hand over the keys to a new administration, the city is on target to finish the year with a murder tally not seen since the 1950s.
Through Sunday, there have been 283 murders in the city in 2013 — down 22% from last year’s 364.
At this rate, there will be about 100 fewer slayings than the 419 in 2012.
Last year’s total was the lowest number since at least 1962.
Shootings are also down this year — by 22%.
Kelly said a bloodless day reflects the NYPD’s determination to take weapons off the street and fight the persistent problem of street gangs with Operation Crew Cut.
“From the largest illegal gun bust in city history to Operation Crew Cut, we continue to do everything we can to rid our neighborhood streets of illegal firearms and other weapons,” Kelly said, referring to the August bust of two gun smuggling rings and the recovery of 254 guns.
Critics of Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio are concerned crime will spike once he takes office.
He has sharply criticized the NYPD’s use of stop-and-frisk and has vowed to reform the department’s practice once in office.
And new legislation — creating an inspector general to watch over department and making it easier to sue the department — has raised fears that officers will feel handcuffed.
Tom Reppetto, an NYPD historian, said drops can continue, despite all the naysayers.
With Celeste Katz
rparascandola@nydailynews.com
