NYPD starts extra summer patrols a month early as crime rises

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton is putting about 330 additional officers on patrol in high-crime areas a month earlier than he did last year after a rise in homicides and shootings in the city.

There were 135 people murdered in the city this year through May, according to NYPD numbers, which represents a nearly 20 percent jump in homicides.

“Summer All Out,” which Bratton rolled out last summer and which police said led to a 26 percent drop in shootings last summer, is starting a month earlier. The patrols begin on Monday, and thehundreds of officers will be re-assigned from desk duty, Chief of Department James O’Neill announced last week.

The additional cops will be on patrol during peak crime shifts — from 4 p.m. to midnight and midnight to 8 a.m. — in neighborhoods such as East New York, East Flatbush, St. Albans and Hollis in Queens and housing projects with high crime numbers.

East New York has had 11 murdersas of May 31, East Flatbushhad sevenand the 113 Precinct in Queens had seven,according to NYPD crime numbers.

The NYPD announced the spike in murders last week, following 2014’s historic low number of 328 murders.

Last year, the first installment of Bratton’s “Summer All Out” led to a 26 percent drop in shootings in the 10 targeted precincts, the Daily News reported last October.

PBA President Pat Lynch, who was re-elected as president of the city’s largest police union in a “landslide” victory last week, has called for more officers on city street to combat the rise in murders. Last month, Bratton said he’d like 450 more cops added to city streets — half of the number City Council has called for.Mayor Bill de Blasiodid not include money for additional cops in the city’s budget, which will be finalized this month.