Following President Trump’s move to take over the Washington, DC Police Department Monday, the Queens native says he is also eyeing the possibility of taking over the NYPD, citing alleged crime concerns.
“We are going to look at New York,” Trump said on Aug. 11 – but examining a quarter-century of crime stats in New York shows that there isn’t much for Trump and his administration to look at, because the NYPD has led a significant crime decrease this year and over the last 25 years.
Even with isolated crimes that occur, one could argue that the Big Apple has never been safer. Looking back 25 years to 2000, when Republican Rudy Giuliani was mayor, New York City saw 673 murders and homicides, according to NYPD data. Last year, in 2024, that number shrank to nearly half at 382 with Democrat Eric Adams holding court at City Hall.
Rapes also sharply fell 2,068 in the year 2000 to 1,748 in 2024. Robberies were down more than 50% in the last 25 years, from 32,562 incidents citywide in 2000 to 16,580 in 2024. Felony assaults fluctuated from the year 2000 with 25,924, dropping down to 20,572 in 2019 but then rose back up again in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, where it increased to 22,835 and kept rising until 2024 when it hit 29,461.
Burglary has also dropped exponentially since 2000, from 38,352 offenses to 13,070 in 2024.
Grand Larceny fluctuated throughout the past 25 years with 49,450 in 2000, dropping to its lowest in 2021 with 35,505 and back up to 48,450 in 2024. Grand Larceny of Motor Vehicles was at its highest in 2000, with 35,442 offenses, but it dropped to over half the amount to 14,199 in 2024.
Year-over-year, between 2024 and 2025, things are even safer, based on the NYPD crime statistics, with historic lows touted by both Mayor Adams and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
So far in 2025, there have been 188 murders in NYC from the beginning of the year to Aug. 10, a drop of 23% since the same time last year. The number of shooting victims also fell by over 21% with 530 people being shot compared to 678 in the same time frame, and the lowest in recorded history in July.
Additionally, robbery has fallen by 11%, with 9,076 victims in 2025, while hate crimes fell by over 25%, with 331 victims. So far in 2025, felony assaults have slightly fallen by 1%, with 17,965 victims, while robberies decreased by 11%, with 9,076 victims.
NYC: The safest big city in America
Speaking to amNewYork, Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Kaz Daughtry said that with the current drop in crime, New York is the safest big city in the country.
The city’s homicide rate, for instance, was 4.7 per 100,000 residents in 2024 — far lower than Washington, DC’s homicide rate of 27.3, according to a Rochester Institute of Technology report.
New York’s homicide rate was also a fraction of that of major cities in states that went for Trump in the 2024 presidential election, including St. Louis, MO (54.4), New Orleans, LA (34.7), Indianapolis (23.8), Greensboro, NC (14.1), Dallas, TX (14.0) and Pittsburgh, PA (13.8).
“New York City is the safest big city in America, and the numbers prove it,” Daughtry said, noting that “July saw the lowest number of shootings and shooting victims in recorded history … [and] the lowest crime figures in our subways in recorded history, when you omit the two pandemic years when few people were riding the trains.”
The NYPD has also acted in the past seven months to take more than 22,900 illegal guns off the streets, and seized more than 100,000 illegal motorcycles, dirt bikes, scooters and “ghost cars” (vehicles with false license plates) often used in the commission of crime.
Daughtry said even the vibe of New York is different in a positive way, thanks to the NYPD’s efforts.
“New Yorkers and visitors alike can feel the difference — everyday people are out enjoying dinner and drinks, catching shows, or just walking their neighborhoods without looking over their shoulders,” he said.
Regarding concerns that Trump might want to get involved in the NYPD’s business, the deputy mayor says the Adams administration has three words for its federal partners: “We got this.”
“We work closely with city, state, and federal partners to protect this city, but as Mayor Adams says, ‘We got this.’ Our public safety team is internationally renowned — they’re highly trained, experienced, and fully capable of keeping New Yorkers safe. We have the resources, expertise, and resolve to keep driving crime down and protecting everyone in this city,” Daughtry added.
On Tuesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul was a little less diplomatic in responding to questions about a possible federal takeover of the NYPD, calling it an insult to the men and women in blue who work every day to keep the Big Apple safe.
“If he is going to stand there and insult our law enforcement officers, I think there will be people in outrage over that alone,” Hochul said.
Mayor Eric Adams, meanwhile, echoed Daughtry’s sentiments but said the Trump administration could best help New York by working to restrict gun access and help the NYPD get illegal firearms off the city streets.
“We should deal with stopping the access of these guns. There are more grants that I think our federal partners can get. And so I’m not part of the group that says we don’t want to work in coordination with the federal government, but we don’t need anyone to come in and take over our law enforcement apparatus,” the mayor said. “We have the finest police department on the globe. People come here to be trained and people speak with us to get assistance. … We got this under control.”
