The Large Apple noticed a 2% drop in main crime within the first few months of the fiscal yr — together with a dip in transit crime, an early peek at Mayor Eric Adams’ annual report revealed.
The Adams administration is predicted to tout a 7% drop in transit crime, a 9% discount in automotive thefts, 3% fewer grand larcenies, a 4.8% lower in robberies and a 2.8% dip in burglaries from July to October of final yr in comparison with the identical time interval in 2023, based on a Metropolis Corridor supply.
“Our administration is focused on making New York City the best place to raise a family, and that means making our city safer and more affordable, as well as improving quality of life for working-class New Yorkers,” Adams stated.
“From preventing crime in our parks to cracking down on car thefts to making the subway system safer, we are delivering on that mission and ensuring New York City remains the safest big city in the country.”
The leaked information comes from the Preliminary Mayor’s Administration Report. The complete report is ready to be launched Thursday afternoon and can present a report card for metropolis providers.
“The data shows that there were fewer victims of major crimes from July to October — and thousands fewer victims of major crimes in the entire year as overall crime was down in 2024 — but we remain focused on the work that still needs to be done to continue to ensure New Yorkers both are safe and feel safe,” Adams stated.
The announcement comes as New Yorkers are reeling from ugly crimes that captured headlines and put Large Apple residents on excessive alert.
Final month, a sleeping subway rider burned to loss of life on an F prepare in Coney Island after a madman threw a lit match onto her, inflicting her to burst into flames on a Sunday morning.
A madman used a hammer to bash a teen’s tooth after the sufferer refused to surrender his seat for a girl on a D prepare within the Bronx Monday, cops stated.
That very same day, a vagrant with two open instances was arrested for allegedly throwing a feminine straphanger into an incoming A prepare in Manhattan, based on cops.
Whereas information over the previous three or 4 years would possibly present metropolis subway crime slowing or staying the identical, the identical information reveals complete subway violence is up over the previous 10 years, based on a examine by Aaron Chalfin, a criminology professor on the College of Pennsylvania.
“I think when you see news stories that say violent crime has been pretty constant, it’s probably because people are referencing the last couple years, where things have kind of evened out a little bit. But over the longer span, we do see the violence coming up,” he advised The Put up.
On a per-rider foundation, violent crimes — which embrace homicide, rape, theft and assault — have practically doubled since 2014. Then, about one violent crime occurred per 1 million riders whereas in 2024, about 2.5 violent crimes per 1 million straphangers occurred, Chalfin stated.
What he discovered most fascinating from his examine is that assault crimes are driving the uptick in subway crime, and there’s no “acquisition motive” behind the assaults.
“You see this with respect to homicides. It used to be that a lot of homicides were motivated by gangs fighting over illegal markets, robberies gone wrong, and today, a large, large share of the homicides are really interpersonal disputes that have no nexus to financial motives or just like a very tenuous nexus at best,” he defined.
Since 2009, subway assaults have tripled whereas instrumental crimes, equivalent to theft, have dropped, based on Chalfin’s examine.
His information confirmed a really sturdy hyperlink between individuals who commit violent crimes and psychological well being and homelessness.
For a part of his examine, Chalfin analyzed NYPD information from 2023 to 2024. It confirmed that of the individuals who had been arrested within the subway 4 or extra occasions with at the very least one of many arrests being for a violent crime, 80% have been documented as having a psychological well being problem and 90% have been homeless sooner or later.
“So I think there’s something going on even deeper than just what’s happening in the New York City subway.”
