(NEW YORK) — New York City saw fewer shootings in the first three months of the year than in any previous quarter since the NYPD began keeping statistics, the police commissioner announced Thursday.
“Crime and violence reductions are historic,” NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said during a press briefing.
Shootings dropped 23% citywide in the first quarter, she said.
“This is lives saved,” Tisch said.
The first quarter of the year also saw the second-fewest murders of any quarter in recorded history in the city, Tisch said.
All crimes except rape went down in the first quarter of 2025, the commissioner said. Rape increased by 21% in the first quarter, Tisch said, while noting the increase was due in part to changes to the law last year that “rightfully redefined and broadened what constitutes rape in New York state.”
There was a slight uptick in grand larceny auto in March, due to a rash of car thefts specifically targeting Hondas, Tisch said. Nearly a third of all cars stolen in the city are Hondas because the thieves are able to easily clone Honda key fobs, police said.
“We continue to urge Honda, for their customers’ sake, to fix this vulnerability now,” Tisch said.
Subway crime dropped to levels not seen since before the pandemic, when transit crime spiked. Major crime in the subways decreased more than 18% in the first three months of the year, Tisch said.
The commissioner credited enforcement of rules like taking up more than one seat.
“They will correct the condition,” Tisch said. “This is about restoring safety and order.”
The latest statistics come as the Trump administration has claimed crime in the subway system is “rampant.”
In response to the state’s request for more federal funds for the transit system last month, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the administration would “hold NYC leaders accountable for not keeping commuters safe.”
Duffy has also threatened to pull federal funding from the city’s transit system if it doesn’t address crime.
“The trend of violent crime, homelessness, and other threats to public safety on one of our nation’s most prominent metro systems is unacceptable. After years of soft-on-crime policies, our Department is stepping in to restore order,” Duffy said in a statement on March 18 — two months after Gov. Kathy Hochul had already announced a plan to increase of police officers in the transit system.
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