John DeStefano Jr. took over as mayor of New Haven in January 1994, assuming the helm of a city overwhelmed by economic woes and soaring crime rates. Blighted properties dotted the city like pox on skin. Escalating violence had spilled over from the dilapidated buildings on the edge of town into the downtown district.
The Yale campus was hardly immune. In the late 1980s, more than 1,000 major crimes were committed annually at Yale. Major crimes, including cases of larceny, rape, and theft, peaked in 1990 with 1,439 such reports.
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