New York City has reached a new milestone in public safety. According to the NYPD’s latest crime report, the city recorded the fewest shooting incidents (489), shooting victims (594) and murders (203) ever documented for the first nine months of any year.
Year‑to‑date declines across the board
Compared with the same period in 2021, the city saw 846 fewer people shot. Major crime overall fell 6.6% from the previous year, dropping from 92,057 reported incidents to 86,023. All five boroughs posted reductions, with the Bronx achieving the steepest drop at 11.9%.
Quarterly record numbers
The third quarter continued the downward trend. From July through September the city logged 167 shooting incidents, 213 shooting victims and 73 murders – each the lowest total ever recorded for that three‑month span. Major crime fell 9.4% during the quarter.
Specific categories see improvement
Several traditional crime categories posted double‑digit year‑over‑year declines: robbery fell 12.2%, burglary 13.7%, grand larceny 5.8% and auto theft 12.4%. Crime in public‑housing developments also reached record lows, with murders, shootings, shooting victims and robberies all down, driving a 6.5% drop in major crime for those sites.
Areas of concern
Not every metric moved downward. Felony assaults rose slightly, 0.2% from a year earlier, and reported rapes increased 3.7%. Police noted that many of the additional rape reports stem from incidents that occurred in prior years but were only recently reported.
Confirmed hate crimes rose 12.9% through September, more than half of which were anti‑Jewish incidents. Transit‑related crime was essentially flat, up 0.9% from the same period last year, though the NYPD still rates 2026 as one of the safest years for the subway system in the past 15 years, aside from pandemic‑related ridership dips.
Official reactions
“The NYPD delivered the fewest shooting incidents, shooting victims, and murders for the first nine months of any year in recorded history,” said Jessica S. Tisch, NYPD spokesperson, in a statement.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani credited the results to coordinated police efforts and community‑based violence‑prevention programs. “Our city has recorded the fewest murders, shootings and shooting victims in its history while major crime fell across all five boroughs,” the mayor said, emphasizing the importance of continued partnership between law‑enforcement and neighborhood leaders.
What’s next?
City officials say the focus will remain on sustaining these gains, expanding prevention initiatives, and addressing the modest upticks in assault and hate‑crime reporting. The NYPD plans to continue transparent reporting to keep New Yorkers informed about safety trends.
Original reporting: Brookhaven News – ABC7 New York — read the source article.
