Overall crime in New York City declined in 2015, despite increases in the number of rapes and murders.

According to the NYPD's Compstat Unit, major crime was down two percent when compared to 2014. This was driven by an 11 percent decline in burglaries.

Murder went up by five percent, while rape was up nearly six percent.

Peter Moskos, a former police officer and associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, argued that the city has generally become safer at a time when the NYPD conducted far fewer stop and frisks.

"I think what you had was a real shift," he said, "where police officer productivity wasn't judged purely by the number of UF-250s, the stop form they had to fill out. So in that way it's really win-win."

The number of summonses being issued by officers has also dropped, according to a report in The New York Times. While some New Yorkers reacted with skepticism to those figures, others said the statistics mirrored their experiences.

"I haven't received a summons in a couple years," said Deangelo Jones, a resident of Harlem.

He recalled one incident from a couple years ago, in which he said he was taking a photo of the George Washington Bridge from a park.

"But I was told I was there after hours," he said, resulting in a summons and a $75 fine. 

"I don't think they're giving out those type of summons anymore," he suggested.

Don Allen, who lives at the Queensbridge Houses in Long Island City, said the NYPD "kinda calmed down" this year with issuing summonses.

"I think a little bit," he said. "Because they were going crazy."