George Silvarola is reporting for the Poughkeepsie Journal arrests are down in New York City and statewide alike. From March 18 through March 24, misdemeanor and felony arrests outside of New York City decreased 69 percent compared to the same period in 2019, according to the state Division of Criminal Justice Services. In New York City, the crime rate fell 43 percent during the same period. The trend has grown every week since late February. The drop in crime is helpful to first responders and to hospitals dealing with overcrowding, as the number of COVID-19 cases hit nearly 139,000 statewide as of April 7. "A byproduct of shutting everything down is you have fewer car accidents, [the] crime rate is way down, fewer trauma cases, so there is not a large non-COVID population in the hospitals," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said this week. Read the full story in the Poughkeepsie Journal.