The sheer volume of footage of crimes in progress is a new phenomenon, and it might be skewing our perception of the crime problem in the city, Glassner said. In the same way, when a shooter opened fire on a morning subway car in Sunset Park last month, there were images of bloodied victims on social media within hours. Still, that context is missing from television reports and social media, where recent carjackings have been caught on camera and broadcast. But with about 4.4 million vehicles crossing through the city every weekday, the odds of getting carjacked are really slim. There were 511 reported “vehicles taken by force” in the city last year, according to the NYPD. In 2021, there were four times more carjackings than in 2018. It’s true that carjackings are up significantly. Facts about how very unlikely this is to happen to you don’t stay in your mind in the same way – they’re not as dramatic.” “The thing that happens a lot these days is you have one incident, very dramatic, and it was caught on a cell phone and then it just goes everywhere,” Glassner said.
Sociologist Barry Glassner, author of “Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things,” said one reason why people feel more afraid than they did in the past is the proliferation of images and videos of crimes in progress – from witness cell phones, police body cams, and surveillance video – is now filling social media feeds in a way it never did before. The same pollsters asked New Yorkers the same question this February, and even though crime rates are lower, 74% called crime a very serious problem. But in February of that year, just 36% of New York City voters described crime as a very serious problem, a Quinnipiac University poll found. In 2001, all categories of major crimes were higher than in 2021. And so far this year, six out of seven major crimes – rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, grand larceny, and grand larceny of a vehicle – are seeing double-digit percentage increases over last year.īut what has increased perhaps more than crime is the fear of crime. Major crime totals are up compared to 2019, before the pandemic, when crime was at historic lows. Polls indicate a growing sense of the city as dangerous. Some of his fear, he said, is rooted in what he sees on TikTok every day – “people breaking into businesses, stealing stuff, and being able to get away with it.” It’s not even just because of the spike in violent crimes in New York City since the onset of the pandemic. But Kaya admitted he’s not just afraid of crime because he was a victim.