Hurricane Sandy may have devastated areas of New York City, but there was one silver lining in the otherwise massively destructive storm cloud: the city’s overall crime rate dropped 27 percent compared with the same week last year, according to New York police spokesman Paul Browne. That’s 655 fewer crimes committed in 2012. Murders were down by 86 percent while incidents of rape and robbery fell by 41 percent and 21 percent, respectively. Most of the post-storm arrests have related to burglary and disputes over gas. Burglaries were up by 6 percent.
