Hate crimes down 12 percent in 2025, recites Police Commissioner Tisch (Part 2)

“Progress extended into our transit system. 2025 was the safest year on our subways outside of the pandemic years since 2009. For six consecutive months, major crime on the subway system fell, contributing to a 4 percent drop over the course of the year. Transit robberies reached their lowest levels ever in 2025, even when you include the pandemic years, down 12 percent compared to 2024.  

“And for the year, shooting incidents on our subways were down a remarkable 63 percent. Put simply, in a system that serves around 4 million riders on an average weekday, there were fewer than six major crimes per day. A recent poll conducted by the MTA found that nearly seven out of 10 subway riders say they feel safe using the system. That is an increase of 12 percentage points from the beginning of the year. That shift reflects what riders are seeing. More officers on trains and platforms, and a consistent focus on maintaining order where transit crime most often occurs. And none of this happens without partnership.   

“Retail theft is a recidivist-driven crime that spiked in the early 2020s, and communities across the city felt the impact in very real ways from everyday items like toothpaste being locked behind cases to local businesses struggling to stay open.   

“We heard that concern clearly from residents, workers, and store owners. In 2025, we responded with focus and with urgency. Retail theft declined by 14 percent citywide. That turnaround followed a clear strategy. We identified the patterns driving retail theft, we concentrated resources at high-propensity locations during peak hours, and we shifted from pass-through enforcement to sustained investigation. As a result, nearly half of all retail theft complaints resulted in an arrest, the highest rate since 2019.   

“While we have made historic gains generally fighting violent crime, we have not turned the tide yet on youth violence. In 2025, 14 percent of shooting victims were under the age of 18, an increase of five percentage points from 2024. And 18 percent of shooting perpetrators were also under the age of 18. These are the highest percentages that we’ve ever seen for both measures since we began tracking this data in 2018. That reality demanded a change in approach.   

“That is why this fall we implemented school safety zones modeled after our violence reduction zones but designed specifically to keep kids safe. These zones focus on the places where young people are most likely to fall victim to a crime, commuter corridors, bus stops, and the route students take to and from school. And the early results are significant. Since September, within these zones, overall crime was down 53 percent. And shooting incidents and shooting victims are down more than 75 percent.   

“Traffic fatalities reached historic lows last year, falling 19 percent from 2024 and to the lowest total ever recorded in New York City’s history. That progress is the result of focused enforcement, particularly against the behaviors that put lives at risk, including drunk and impaired driving. Through sustained DWI enforcement and targeted deployments, NYPD officers are taking dangerous drivers off the road. Last year, DWI arrests were up 15 percent compared to 2024…

“Next, quality of life. Since April, our quality of life teams have been responding to the daily issues eroding people’s sense of safety, specifically as they reported through the 311 system. That work is happening against a backdrop of sharply increased demand. Since 2019, 311 calls have increased by 104 percent. Even with that surge, citywide response times for chronic quality of life issues improved by an average of 22 minutes in 2025. Service times dropped by more than 14 percent and contact resolutions through 311 increased by more than 16 percent.   

“In 2025, hate crimes declined 12 percent citywide. Antisemitic incidents also declined down 3 percent year over year, but they still accounted for 330 cases, representing 57 percent of all hate crimes reported in New York City, despite Jewish New Yorkers making up roughly 10 percent of the City’s population. These numbers remain far too high and antisemitism continues to be the most persistent hate threat that we face. The NYPD will continue to confront hate crimes aggressively and protect every community targeted because of who they are.”

Part 1: Commissioner Tisch brags about decline in crime in 2025, credits Hochul, Mamdani who’s been mayor only six days