NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Mayor Eric Adams looked to take a victory lap Thursday over what they called an “historic” low in shootings mere hours after Hizzoner announced he would be running for reelection as an independent.
Stats from the NYPD found that the first three months of 2025 saw the lowest number of shootings in recorded history. This is accompanied, they say, by the second-lowest number of murders in history amongst major falls in other crimes, including felonies in the transit system.
Shootings fell by 23.1% during the first quarter of 2025, the NYPD reported, with 140 incidents taking place compared to 182 incidents taking place in the same time period during 2024, while murders declined by 34.4%, with 63 murders compared to last year’s 96. Index crime also went down 10.9%.
Robberies dropped by 22.8%, with 3,074 incidents this year vs. 3,981 last year; grand larcenies declined by 13.7% (10,226 vs. 11,855); auto theft was down 11.9% (2,773 vs. 3,148); burglary fell by 4.4% (3,043 vs. 3,184), and felony assault tumbled by 2.7% (6,361 vs. 6,535).
While Police Commissioner Tisch also patted the department on the back, celebrating the more than 21,000 firearms being taken off the streets over the past three years, she says the crime reduction has not been an easy process. Railing against bail reform and the discovery laws, she argued that cops are battling an epidemic of repeat offenders.
“Every New Yorker should know that they (the crime statistics) could be even better. We are still up above 2018 high levels, and there are several reasons why,” the top cop said. “Most notably, 2018 was the last full year before drastic changes to our state’s criminal justice system took effect. These changes had wide-ranging consequences, and over the past seven years, one thing has become very clear: New York City does not have a certain high level, but we do have a surging recidivism problem.”
The commissioner noted that more than a third of individuals arrested in the first quarter of 2025 wound up back in handcuffs within weeks of their apprehension and release.
“Looking at just the first quarter, 39% of the people arrested this quarter were arrested at least twice in the same three-month period,” she added, alleging that the recidivism rate is up nearly 50% since 2018.
NYPD Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael LiPetri went further still. According to his data, 30% of all shoplifting crimes are the work of just 350 people who together have over 2300 arrests.
Another concern for the NYPD is youth involvement in shootings.
LiPetri reported that the number of youths injured by shootings were up 133% in the first quarter of 2025 compared to 2018 while the number of young perpetrators involved in shootings has climbed by 112%.
Youngsters arrested for possessing firearms have also increased by 94%.
“Within two years of that gun arrest, 25% of that population will be involved in the shooting prior, to 2018, that’s less than seven,” LiPetri.
Adams touts progress
Even with concerns about recidivism and shootings, Mayor Adams touted the progress made by the NYPD and his administration in dropping crime around the city — seemingly laying the groundwork for his reelection campaign in the process.
“When you look at 2025 first quarter crime data reflects our resounding success for what we have accomplished,“ Adams said. “New York City remains the safest big city in America bar none; the numbers prove that this is what we said over and over again.”
Mayor Adams pledged to continue working to decrease crime despite his less-than-stellar standing in recent polls. He charged that the city will spend as much money as necessary to keep crime low and lower it even further.
“I don’t want to hear those defunding police characters tell us, how much are we spending? Whatever we need to spend to save the lives of New Yorkers and to keep the city safe, we’re going to spend that,” he said.
