Courtesy, Professionalism and Raincoats. (Getty)

One of the few bright spots to Hurricane Sandy, besides a new found appreciation for a subway system we too often loathe, is that crime is down, and according to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, there have been no homicides since the storm hit the city Monday night.

"We’ve had no murders for three days," Commissioner Kelly told reporters today inside the portico of City Hall, following the mayor's afternoon press briefing.  "And we’ve also had a reduction in domestic violence."

The commissioner was perhaps choosing his words carefully, saying no murders in three days (not counting Friday it would seem), because there was one murder, still unsolved and even unexplained, that happened Monday night just as the storm was hitting the city. The Times' crime columnist Michael Wilson published the remarkable details of the incident just today.

Commissioner Kelly explained that these things are to be expected, though, as with any natural disaster. "It’s a phenomena we’ve seen before, where there’s bad weather, where there’s any sort of major catastrophe, then crime seems to go down," the commissioner said. "We’ve had a 34 percent reduction in crime over this week."

But that does not go for all types of crimes "We’ve seen a certain increase in burglaries in certain areas of the city," the commissioner said. Those reports were mostly in Staten Island and southern Queens, two of the areas hardest hit by the storms.

The commissioner said he had yet to see similar reports for downtown Manhattan, which has been without power up until tonight, a pronouncement that surprised some reporters. But the commissioner than acknowledged that it may not be that those crimes have not happened but simply that they have not been reported, given the situation downtown.

"There may be a latent effect in terms reporting, people may not be in a position to report it, they may not be aware of it," the commissioner said.

But at least for now it's nice to hope/pretend that everyone was on their best behavior downtown during the storm.

Smooth moves. (Reuters)

Normally, when you break into a home, you steal what's inside. Taking a page from hedgehogs and jackrabbits, Shawn McAleese got dig and instead robbed the neighbors, hitting eight different businesses in the wee hours of the morning during a two-month spree this summer.

On August 27, in New York State Supreme Court, the defendant pled guilty to eight counts of burglary in the third degree. Today, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance announced his sentence: a 28 to 56 year stint in state prison. That is stiffer than some murders.

Mr. McAleese, 43, broke into at least eight residential buildings in the Flatiron District, Hell’s Kitchen, the Upper East Side, Murray Hill, and Central Harlem between May 3 and June 30 of this year. Basically, all over town.

“He not only violated the sanctity of private homes by breaking into residences, but also used those apartments as launch pads to steal from nearby businesses," Mr. Vance said in a statement. "Theft from a business doesn’t end at emptying the cash register – it jeopardizes the job security of those who work there because it affects the bottom line.”

The residential buildings for this belligerent burglar, though, were mere gateways to greater things. Mr. McAleese chose his residential targets according to their relative proximity to restaurants and bars. He used them to gain access to alleys or to dig his way through walls into neighboring businesses.

Mr. McAleese’s appetite for thievery saw him raid an array of eateries throughout the city. His foodie inclinations, though, were clearly not the deciding factor when it came to choice of where to cull. Among the places struck were Molly’s Irish Pub and the desert shop Kyotofu in Hell’s Kitchen; chic organic canteen Bareburger in the Meat Packing District; a Chipotle on the Upper East Side; and The Famous Chicken Place in Murray Hill.

One thing we remain unable to gleen from the objects of his offense, is Mr. McAleese’s taste and preference of culinary delight. But at least he should have no problem digging his way out of the slammer.