Report: Big drop in Philly homicides

Going strictly by its homicide count, Philadelphia is as safe as it’s been in decades.

NBC10 reports 2013′s homicide count through the first 66 days of year marked a two-decade low in the City of Brotherly Love.

There were 41 reported homicides in Philadelphia in 2013 through March 17. That’s a 43 percent drop from the same Jan. 1-March 17 time frame in 2012, when there were 72 homicides. There were 80 homicides in Philadelphia over the same period in 2007.

NBC10′s analysis of Philadelphia Police Department statistics showed the 2013 homicide rate is “by far” the lowest since at least 1992.

Philadelphia has averaged roughly one homicide per day for the past two years.