Interestingly, the same phenomenon also occurred when Desert Storm started in January 1991. Despite the enormity of those circumstances, I just can’t bring myself to believe that even hardened criminals, with little or no respect for fellow human beings in other situations, would simply be tuned into the TV to watch that day’s horrific events unfold. Wouldn’t they take advantage of the reduced police presence in the rest of the city to commit robberies, looting, etc.? Is this really true about the crime levels having dipped to virtually zero on September 11?
First of all, New York City has never been “the crime capital of America,” especially not in the past 15 years or so, during which it has been one of the safest large cities in the country.
It is true that reports of violent crime were far down in the weeks after 9/11, though some of that is likely explained by the fact that police were busy with cleaning up the WTC, cordoning off lower Manhattan, working with the National Guard, rerouting traffic and so forth.
