While other violent crimes like murder and assault decreased or remained relatively flat, the police said reported rapes increased 22.4 percent to 1,795 in 2018, up from 1,467 from 2017. A broader category of sex crimes that includes groping and forcible touching also jumped 8.4 percent to 3,873 in 2018, from 3,573 in 2017, according to police statistics.
Reported rapes in New York City have risen for 16 consecutive months since allegations of sexual misconduct against movie producer Harvey Weinstein ignited a global reckoning about sexual harassment and assault, especially in the workplace. The city’s numbers reflect many, but not all the sexual assaults reported to the police last year because of differences in how such crimes are classified under state and federal law.
Though it is almost impossible to determine with certainty why more people are coming forward, police officials and advocates for victims said the publicity and outrage generated by the #MeToo movement has encouraged more victims to contact the police.
Maureen Curtis, director of criminal justice programs for Safe Horizon, a nonprofit that places crime victim advocates at the city’s police precincts and handles local calls from the national rape crisis hotline, said the environment has made victims feel more comfortable discussing assaults.
“They’re feeling more believed,” Curtis said. “There’s more compassion and there’s less blaming around the person who has been victimized.”
The increase in reported rapes in New York appears to continue a broader national trend. In its annual crime victimization survey released last month, the Justice Department reported that 40 percent of the people who said they were sexually assaulted in 2017 also said they reported the attacks to the police, up from 23 percent in 2016.
As Christine Blasey-Ford testified last year about sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court, rape crisis centers across the country were flooded with calls from people reporting similar experiences.
“Our numbers peaked and they kind of stayed there,” Monique Howard, executive director of Women Organized Against Rape, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit that handles rape crisis calls. The increase, she said, has also led to an uptick in police reports.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said the numbers appear to reflect a cultural shift in attitudes about sex crimes. “Historic underreporting,” he said, “is finally being addressed.”
“I think the #MeToo movement is a part of it, and a number of other things,” he said last week at a news conference. “Messages are being sent by government. Messages are being sent by media, by advocates, helping victims — survivors — to know that they should come forward, that it’s important, that they’ll be protected, they’ll be supported.”
Police statistics indicate the increase in reported rapes was driven largely by people coming forward about attacks involving domestic partners and acquaintances rather than strangers. Reports of attacks by a person known to a victim accounted for all but 10 of the 328 additional complaints in 2018, the police said.
In addition, more than 1 in 5 rapes reported in 2018 occurred in prior years, a rate significantly higher than police officials have said was typical before #MeToo.
James P. O’Neill, the police commissioner, said a public service campaign the department began in April was “a big part” of why more victims were coming forward.
Deputy Chief Lori Pollock, who is in charge of crime control strategies, said more victims walk into police stations to report sexual assaults.
“It means we’re building trust,” she said. “The message is we want the reports. We want to hear from you. We want to investigate these crimes.”
Mary Haviland, executive director of the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault, said no one can determine from the number of reported rapes how often the crime actually happens in New York. A report released last year said police estimated that as few as 5 percent of the city’s sexual assaults get reported.
In March, the city Department of Investigation issued a blistering report criticizing top police officials for failing to provide enough staff members, resources and training to the Special Victims Division, which investigates sex crimes.
The report said the shortfalls left detectives unable to properly investigate all their cases and resulted in a system that prioritized sexual assaults committed by strangers over those committed by someone a victim knew.
The Police Department initially rejected the report’s findings, but later added more detectives to the Special Victims Division and replaced its top commander.
Several victim advocates have said the changes so far, which include the dissolution of the units charged with investigating drug-facilitated rapes and cold cases that lack DNA evidence, fall woefully short of addressing the unit’s needs.
Haviland said it was disappointing the mayor and commissioner did not present a plan for how they intend to handle the increased number of rape cases.
“I just think if there was another crime category that was up 22 percent that you would prepare remarks to deal with it,” she said. “Are they going to increase staff in SVD? Are they going to assign more detectives? What are they going to do to address the increase in caseload?”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.