FEWER MURDERS IN NEW YORK CITY

The number of murders and shootings in New York City fell last week after
several weeks of increases, statistics released yesterday show.

The number of murders during the week that ended Sunday fell to 13, from 14
in the same period last year. Shootings dropped 16 percent, to 26 from 31,
after a sustained increase over several weeks.

The drop-off came as Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani proclaimed that national
crime statistics continued to show New York to be one of the nation's
safest cities. Crime remains down in New York at levels not seen in 30 years.

In the last few weeks, officials have adopted new measures to combat crime,
including assigning narcotic detectives to work six-day weeks.

Murder and shootings for the four weeks that ended Sunday still showed a
rise, with 53 murders for that period in 2001 compared with 38 a year ago.