NYC: Operation Crew Cut Saves Lives

A New York Police Department program targeting neighborhood turf wars resulted in a more than 50% drop in homicides on people between the ages of 13 and 21, Commissioner Raymond Kelly told The Wall Street Journal.

The program, called Operation Crew Cut, was launched a year ago in response to an uptick in the number of shootings and homicides in the latter half of 2011 and the early part of 2012.

Investigators determined that the violence was largely the result of crews of loosely-organized young people fighting over pieces of turf sometimes as small as different parts of apartment buildings.

During the past year the operation has resulted in 25 citywide investigations that has led to the indictment of more than 400 people, Kelly said.

Kelly credits the operation with a 50% reduction in homicides of people between 13 and 21. So far this year, 43 people in that age group have been killed, compared to 87 over the same time frame last year.

“Lives are being saved and the majority of those lives are young minority men,” Kelly said.

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