4  Interactive graph

Below you can find an interactive visualization representing the change in NYPD complaints density across the five boroughs of New York City over a 24-hour range. Each grid corresponds to a square mile in a borough, and the dots represent the average number of complaint counts in a square mile at a specific hour, based on data averaged over a five-year period (2019–2023). The density of complaints is visualized by the number of dots within each grid. Try using the slider below to explore how complaint density changes across different hours of the day and different boroughs!

Average Crime Count per Square Mile per Hour

Complaints at Hour 0 (0:00 to 0:59)

This component was built by calculating the average number of recorded complaints across different hours of the day over a five-year period. The counts for each borough were then divided by the borough’s land area to determine the average number of complaints occurring per square mile per hour. The borough area data was sourced from this link.

As you can observe, across different hours of the day, Manhattan consistently has the highest number of crimes per square mile per hour. Down the line, we have Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens show progressively lower crime densities. Staten Island has the lowest crime density, possibly due to its smaller population. Throughout the different hours, for all boroughs, a trend of crime densities decreasing from midnight to the lowest at around 6 AM in the morning can be observed. Densities then increase again from 7 AM to around 5 PM, reaching the maximum, before going down again as we get into the night. This information suggests that more resources should be allocated in the afternoon and in areas with higher densities such as Manhattan.