New York City Police Department announced on July 1st that the number of shooting victims in the first half of 2025 hit a historic low across the city, while the total number of shooting incidents matched the record low of 2018. Mayor Adams stated during a press conference on Tuesday that this achievement reflects the effectiveness of the city’s precise law enforcement strategies in public safety. He emphasized that the current public safety policies should be based on “experience” rather than “experimentation”.
According to police data, from January to June this year, there were a total of 337 shooting incidents citywide, a 23% decrease compared to the same period last year, with 397 victims, a 24% decrease. This marks the lowest number of shooting victims in a half-year period in New York City’s recorded history. The number of shooting incidents in June alone also decreased by 30%.
Mayor Adams stated, “We are in a time when experience takes precedence, not a time for social experiments. We are using data and action to prove that public safety strategies are working.”
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch pointed out that these improvements are not accidental but the result of various precise law enforcement measures, including deploying patrols to focus areas, cracking down on gangs, and combating illegal firearms. “These are results achieved through strategic planning and execution, not luck.”
According to NYPD statistics, in the first half of 2025, six out of seven major crime categories showed a downward trend: murder decreased by 23%, robbery by 13%, grand larceny by 7%, auto theft by 4.5%, and felony assaults by 1%. Additionally, subway robberies decreased by 8%, the lowest since 2007.
However, cases of sexual assault have increased by over 20% compared to the same period last year. Police attributed this rise to a new state law implemented in September 2024, which expanded the legal definition of rape to include more forms of sexual violence.
During the press conference, Mayor Adams reiterated his reserved stance towards calls from some political figures for “defunding the police.” He criticized actions like reducing police forces, releasing repeat offenders, and closing Rikers Island prison as “dangerous experiments,” emphasizing that “now is not the time for experimentation but a time to rely on experience.”
Adams added, “Since my time as a police officer in this city in the 1980s, I have known that the cost of societal disorder is extremely high. The current achievements come from concrete actions, not theoretical testing.”