Rising store thefts and a surge in stolen cars in 2023 boosted New York’s crime total for the second year in a row in all parts of the state outside New York City, according to recently released crime data.

Violent crime dropped by 4% in those places since the previous year. But driving up the overall crime counts were two known problems that police and state and local officials have been trying to curb, including a car-stealing spree fueled by social media that soared to epic levels in Rochester and Buffalo.

What did overall crime look like in NY in 2022 and 2023?

The net result was around 193,000 reported crimes, a 21% jump over two years. Much of that was due to a 2022 spike in larcenies, which consist of non-violent thefts such as shoplifting.

Some 133,000 in all were reported last year, the largest share by far of the seven crime counts compiled by the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.

The state excluded New York City from its preliminary figures for last year because of what it said was a technical obstacle: the city switched its data collection system. Figures reported separately by New York City show its total crime stayed the same at around 127,000 in 2023, following a rise in 2021 and jump in 2022.

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Pandemic crime spikes going down. Are they back to pre-2020 levels?

Some of the most alarming crime increases in New York that mirrored national trends during the pandemic have slowed or reversed.

Outside New York City, murders jumped in 2020 and ticked up the following year, but plunged over the next two and totaled 249 in 2023 — the same as in 2019, the last year before the pandemic struck.

Total shootings in Rochester, Yonkers, Syracuse and a dozen other cities and counties where the state tracks gun violence fell in 2023 for the second year in a row. Gun-related injuries in those jurisdictions had leaped in 2020 and 2021. Rochester’s total nearly doubled over two years to 350 in 2021; by last year it had dropped to 247.

Crime levels are starting to return to pre-pandemic levels, but it may take another year to recover fully from the pandemic’s social disruptions, said Christopher Herrmann, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City.

“My hope is that by 2025 things will be ‘back to normal,'” Herrmann said.

Much of the continued rise in larcenies can be attributed to lingering effects of the pandemic, he argued. Police took a more hands-off approach toward minor crimes early in the crisis — at least partly due to risk of infection — and store thefts rose, as thieves saw little risk of being caught or facing jail or severe penalties if they are, Herrmann said.

He also put some blame on the state’s 2019 bail reforms, which largely stopped judges from putting defendants in jail for lower-level charges while their cases are pending. Those changes set off years of political friction, with Republicans claiming they spurred repeat offenses and Democrats — Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders — making a series of adjustments in the new rules to give judges more leeway.

Here are crime totals for places outside New York City in 2023 and how they compared to 2019 levels:

• Larceny: 133,047 (10.9% increase)

• Vehicle theft: 20,615 (186.6% increase)

• Burglary: 16,862 (5.2% decrease)

• Aggravated assault: 15,054 (13.4% increase)

• Robbery: 4,407 (5.8% decrease)

• Rape: 3,164 (18.6% decrease)

• Murder: 249 (no change)

NY’s worst crime problem in 2023: Rash of Kia, Hyundai thefts

As violent crimes decreased in New York last year, car thefts skyrocketed.

In places outside New York City, they have risen every year since 2019 and last year reached a whopping 20,615, almost three times as many as in 2019. And much of that tally is concentrated in just two cities where the crime has ballooned: Rochester, which reported 4,982 car thefts last year, and Buffalo, which had 4,049. The next closest tally was in Syracuse, which had 1,023.

What appears to be driving that trend are technology changes that have made it easier for owners to start their cars and thieves to steal them, “sacrificing security for convenience,” Herrmann said.

Kia and Hyundai models have been the main target, thanks to viral videos viewed by young people that have shown them how to start the cars without a key fob. In Rochester, police have found that cars stolen in this recent wave are often taken simply for joy rides and discarded or used once to commit other crimes, rather than to be sold or stripped for parts.

In response to the spike in car thefts, Hochul announced $5 million in state funding last year for alternative justice programs for youthful offenders, particularly in three counties — Monroe, Erie and Niagara — where the crime had become rampant.

Stealing spree: ‘When is it going to stop?’ Rochester is desperate for car theft solution. What will work?

Cracking down on retail theft: What is NY doing?

The state budget enacted in April included a series of steps that Hochul proposed to combat retail theft. It contained $40 million in funding for police and prosecutors tasked with targeting organized crime rings that steal from stores, including a dedicated State Police unit with 100 employees.

The budget also strengthened the penalty for assaulting a store worker, making it a felony rather than a misdemeanor if the worker is hurt. Small businesses were offered $3,000 tax credits to pay for security measures. And police were given the ability to go after online sellers of stolen goods by making it illegal do so.

Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at cmckenna@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: NY crime was up again in 2023. What’s behind the rise? See the data