New York City has endured a 2020 crime surge like never before

There's been a 97 per cent jump in shootings and a nearly 45 per cent surge in murders, including 15 weeks straight of gunfire as COVID-19 ravaged the city.

The New York Police Department released the sobering preliminary year-end stats, eager to turn the page on a tally that recorded more shootings from mid-May through mid-September than in all of 2019, with 1868 people hit by bullets.

When the ball fell in Times Square, the NYPD had responded to 1531 shooting incidents across the five boroughs, 754 more than in all of 2019. T New York killings numbered 462, 143 more than the year before.