New York City shattered a 30-year record for the fewest number of shootings in the first two months of the year, police revealed Monday.
The city saw 93 incidents of gun violence between January and February, the fewest for those months since 1993, officials said.
Newly released NYPD statistics for February not only showed that dramatic drop in shootings, but also a 14.5% decline in overall serious crimes compared to the same month last year.
“In the first two months of 2025, New York City experienced the fewest number of shooting incidents in the past 30 years, and the third consecutive month of double-digit declines in nearly every major crime category prove that our comprehensive crime fighting strategies are working,” said NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement.
All seven major felonies except rape dropped in February, led by murder and robbery falling 32% and 25% respectively, according to the stats.
But the city’s February felony numbers are still nearly 29% higher than the same month in 2019 – before the coronavirus pandemic when crime shot up, data shows.
Only murders were lower, with 19 reported this February and 24 during that month pre-COVID, according to the data.
All told, there were roughly 6,000 major felonies reported in February 2019, compared to 7,800 this year, the data shows.
The record-breaking low number of shooting incidents in January and February just barely eked below 2019’s tally, which stood at 94, police officials said.
Still, the recent crime numbers are trending in the right direction for New Yorkers concerned about their safety on the streets and subways — and, arguably, for Mayor Eric Adams, who has seen his support slip amid scandals and concerns over his leadership.
NYPD officials and law-enforcement sources credited the overall decrease in crime to a return to bread-and-butter policing.
“Visibility, cops on the street and enforcement of laws — it’s back to the basics, which we know have always worked,” one source said.
Transit crime also fell 15% amid a high-profile deployment of NYPD cops on overnight subway trains, officials said.
February saw 42 shooting incidents, a nearly 21% decrease from the same month last year, data shows.
And the number of shooting victims — 43 — in February was also down nearly 43% from that month in 2024, according to the data.
Police officials attributed the nearly 22% rise in rape to recent changes to laws that broadened the crime’s definition to include other forms of sexual assault.
Flooding cops into crime hot spots — a strategy known as zone-based policing — helped drive down felonies overall, sources said.
“Our zone crime fighting is rotating, nimble, and responsive — it allowed us to be more dynamic, and this is something we’ve done for years now so we have proof it works,” the source said.
“But we’re doing police work. Bottom line. That’s the key.”
Other sources attributed the drop in part to migrants either fleeing the city or laying low after President Trump’s return to office.
Moped scooter robberies — a problem that police have tied to migrant gangs — have declined in recent months, sources noted.
“There has been a significant decrease in scooter crimes/robbery and retail thefts, which has been attributed to migrants,” said a Queens cop. “They are running scared.”
“The word is out, there’s a new sheriff in town,” said a Manhattan cop.
“We are seeing a significant decrease in migrants. A lot are leaving the city, going to Canada, Buffalo, the Carolinas and Texas. We also did a significant amount of takedowns over the last few weeks.”
