Arrests for serious crime in the Big Apple have plummeted since the NYPD mobilized its forces to protect the city during the Republican convention, The Post has learned.
Excluding convention-protest collars, the number of arrests citywide from Friday to Tuesday night is 32 percent lower than over the same period last year.
A statistical analysis by the state Office of Court Administration of the five days shows 2,573 arrests throughout the city, compared to 3,782 collars for the same period last year.
The steepest drop occurred in Manhattan, where most of the cops are working, with a 51 percent decline, from 1,291 arrests to 629.
Significant declines of 30 percent, 20 percent and 14 percent were also recorded in The Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens, respectively, with Staten Island registering a 22 percent decline.
The NYPD’s mobilization of massive numbers of cops from assignments in outer boroughs to convention-related duty in Manhattan prompted concern that crime would rise in areas with fewer police officers than usual.
Police brass attribute the drop in collars since their convention activities began to the city’s crime declines.
“It’s not surprising that arrests are down when you see that crime is down to record low levels,” a department spokesman said.
And other city officials say reassignment of cops tends to keep criminals off balance, at least in the short term.
“The heavy movement of police has an inhibiting effect on crime,” said Thomas Reppetto, president of the Citizens Crime Commission, pointing out how crime dropped following the 9/11 attacks when massive numbers of law-enforcement personnel flooded the city.