A great piece about unsolved murder by Rocco Paranscandola was in Newsday on January 10th. Of course I immediately wrote a letter to the editor explaining the rate at which murders are cleared over time, and how that changes clearance rates.

The police department also told Newsday that in the late 1990’s their clearance rates went as high as 90% and that is simply not true. Although I checked and they did have their best year in 1998 (in recent NYPD history), when it was 70.8% (not 92.5%, as claimed). Again, this is not a reflection of the NYPD. This is a national trend and when you look at the national trend for big cities, New York is doing a little better then most.