Of course not. You can't cover those up, or downplay them.
Downplaying crimes means less serious crimes on the books, which makes the department commander look better, and improves re-election chances for mayors.
In NYC, due to the 1990's and the vivid memories some of us have of what safety was like then, crime is an extremely make-or-break factor in electoral races.
Unfortunately, these memories are fading and people's understanding of crime reporting statistics aren't improving, either.
Yes, it's official that NYC reclassified many crimes in the last 24 months. Whether or not this was good is subject to debate; but undoubtedly it leads to a 'lower crime rate.'
That's the legal, official piece of the puzzle. The unoffocial one comes to play when you try to convince the cops not to downplay a crime you report. No one carries statistics on officers downgrading crimes when they file reports.
This became really obvious when sex crime victims started getting press attention and reporting anecdote after anecdote of victim-blaming, indifference and worse.
Perhaps for something like an iphone being stolen, but I doubt that applies to homicides.