A woman left a dog tied up outside Mars Bar on Wednesday night. She claimed that some kids gave her the dog over by the Allen Street Domino's Pizza. A Mars Bar patron currently has the dog, but can't keep it much longer. After this she will be dropped off and left at Animal Care and Control, who will destroy the dog if no one claims her within 72 hours. She's medium size, perhaps 45 pounds, black/dark brown with white. Looks to have had litters, sweet to people but not so great with other dogs. She was wearing a collar and a leash but doesn't have tags or a microchip.
So far this calendar year, the number of New York City murders has jumped a scary 22 percent over the same period last year -- from 86 slayings up to 103 this year.
In addition to murders, the number of shootings has soared to 246 -- a 21.2 percent jump over the same period last year.
There are also more rapes, which are up 11.3 percent, and felony assaults, which have spiked nearly 6 percent. Burglaries have increased 3.6 percent.
Bloomberg noted that the total number of such crimes is "still very low" compared to the sky-high rates seen in years such as 1990, when murders hit an annual record of 2,245.
But he and others admit that the NYPD's shrinking manpower level -- from 41,000 cops in 2001 down to about 35,000 today -- could be playing a factor in the increased crime rates. The city expects to shed around 1,300 officers in the upcoming fiscal year through attrition, and also is threatening to lay off a whopping 3,150 cops if the state slashes related funding.
One top police official said, "There are just a lot less people out there . . .."
