New York ( CNN ) -- The big news in the Big Apple this week may be what did n't happen . There was not a single reported slaying , stabbing , shooting or knifing in any of the five boroughs on Monday , according to the New York Police Department . `` It is unusual in a city of 8 million people , but we never read that much into one day , '' said Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne , who said it was the `` first time in memory '' that the city had had such a lull in violent crime . The violence-free stretch spanned 36 hours , starting Sunday evening when a man was shot in the head and lasted until Tuesday morning with another shooting , police said . For a city that once suffered from high crime rates , Monday 's feat fits into a broader trend of dropping homicide rates , police say . `` The city hopes to finish out the year with the lowest homicide rate sine 1960 , '' said Browne . In 1990 , police say the city tallied just under 2,300 homicides . By 2002 , that number had dropped below 600 . So far in 2012 , police say that number is 366 . `` If you think back to how bad things were in the 1970s and '80s , you were lucky if you had a few hours go by where you did n't have a violent crime , nevermind a whole day , '' said NYPD historian Michael Cronin . Nationwide , there were 14,612 murders in 2011 , on average one every 36 minutes , the FBI reported . That 's a small decline from 14,722 in 2010 . In October , the FBI said violent crime across the nation fell for the fifth consecutive year in 2011 with murder , rape and robbery all declining , but it noted that violent crime remains a serious problem in many urban areas . The FBI crime statistics differed from a telephone crime survey released in October by the Justice Department . That report showed crime increasing last year but attributed the change to a jump in simple assaults . James Alan Fox , a criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston , said many of those assaults described to interviewers were pushing-and-shoving incidents with no injuries and were not reported to any law enforcement agencies . New York nanny pleads not guilty in child deaths .
No slayings , stabbings , shootings or knifings reported in any of the five boroughs . The violence-free stretch is part of a downward trend in crime in the city , police say . FBI says violent crime is decreasing nationwide but remains problem in urban areas .