4 days Ago
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.— New York City has experienced historic lows in crime during the first three months of 2025, the police commissioner announced on Thursday.
Crime has decreased by 11% overall, according to yesterday’s announcement. On Staten Island, overall crime has decreased by 15% when compared to the same time period one year ago, according to Police Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch.
Grand larceny auto, grand larceny, felony assault, and robbery have dropped on the Island. And burglary, rape, and homicide, on the other hand, have increased. Shooting incidents and victims have decreased by 40% on Staten Island.
The data also showed that the city recorded the fewest shooting incidents in its history and the second-lowest number of murders for the year up to April 3, 2025. Compared to the first three months of 2024, shootings decreased by 23%, from 182 to 140, while murders dropped by 34%, from 96 to 63. March 2025 also had the lowest number of murders ever recorded for that month, it showed.
These declines in violence were accompanied by significant crime reductions across all five boroughs, according to the announcement. Robbery, grand larceny, auto theft, burglary and felony assault all saw notable decreases during the quarter, the commissioner’s announcement said. Subway crime, according to the NYPD, also reached its second-lowest level in 27 years, with major crime in the transit system dropping by 18% and zero murders recorded for the first time in seven years.
The NYPD increased patrols on subway platforms and trains during this period to combat crime and violence, the commissioner said. In an NYPD press release Thursday, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch (left) announced the crime totals for the first quarter of 2025. (Courtesy of NYPD) DCPI Tisch attributed these reductions to the precision policing efforts of NYPD officers.
Their strategies are delivering historic results and making New York City the safest big city in America, she said. “The women and men of the NYPD are driving record-breaking reductions in crime and violence,” said Tisch. “In the first quarter of this year, we’ve cut shooting incidents down to the lowest number in history and made our subways safer than they’ve been in nearly a decade.
Our precision policing strategies aren’t just working — they’re delivering historic results and making New York City the safest big city in the nation.” Mayor Eric Adams emphasized the correlation between public safety and New York City’s prosperity. He noted that the city has seen five consecutive quarters of declining crime, including the past six months.
New York City mayor Eric Adams emphasized that New York City is the safest big city in America. (Courtesy of the NYPD) DCPI “Public safety is the prerequisite to prosperity, and that’s why, since my first day in office, our administration has been dedicated to making sure New Yorkers are safer and feel safer,” said Adams. “While today’s numbers show crime continues to plummet across the five boroughs, today’s drop is nothing new — we have seen five straight quarters of declining crime, including the past six months.
Thanks to the tens of thousands of brave men and women of the NYPD, New York City remains the safest big city in America, and we are only getting safer.” The NYPD’s precision policing model, which deploys officers to locations with the highest amount of crime, known as Violence Reduction Zones, has been a key factor in these sustained declines. In the first quarter, major crime in these areas dropped by 25% compared to last year.
Through street-level investigations, officers recovered more than 1,300 illegal firearms citywide, including untraceable 3D-printed “ghost guns.” These recoveries aided in the 27% drop in shooting incidents and 51% decrease in homicides in March, the commissioner said. Crime reduction efforts also were seen in the city’s public housing developments, where overall crime fell by 11% for the year’s first quarter, NYPD statistics show, and the NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force saw a 10% decline in the number of bias-related incidents in the first quarter of 2025.
Reported rapes, however, rose by 21% overall in the first quarter, according to NYPD data. The NYPD announcement noted that this spike includes incidents from previous years and often involved people known to the survivor. Recent legislative reforms broadening the definition of sexual assault have also played a role in the rise of reports, the NYPD announcement said.
The Police Department continues to encourage survivors of sexual violence to come forward, regardless of when the incident occurred. Stories by Shaina McLawrence .
