July 8, 2019

City Achieves Historic Reduction in Murder as Crime Falls in Every Major Category

The NYPD announced today that year-to-date index crime is down by almost 2,500 complaints, or -5.4%, a new record-breaking low for any first half of any year in the CompStat Era. Murders in the city also fell to a new first half record-low of 135, a 15.5% reduction over 2018 that broke the previous first half record-low of 136, which was set in 2017.

Index crime for June 2019 (8,032) is down by 321 complaints, or -3.8%, compared to June 2018 (8,353). Murder for the month of June 2019 (26) was also down -25.7%, or 9 fewer lives lost, compared to June 2018 (35). Shooting incidents for June 2019 are up +27.1% and year-to-date shootings are up +7.1%. The department is addressing this violence in a number of different ways, including precision policing, Summer All-Out targeted deployments and working with the District Attorneys on gun prosecutions.

“New York City is the safest big city in America, and it’s as safe as it’s ever been in modern times,” said Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill. “But the hardworking members of the NYPD know that to make our achievements meaningful for everyone we have to make this record-breaking safety a reality in every community we serve. We’re going to do that by continuing to build strong relationships, by relentlessly pursuing those who commit violent crime, by deploying our resources effectively and by constantly evaluating our performance in an effort to do even better.”

“It’s been another record-breaking month for the NYPD and the people of New York City,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “With the close of the first half of the year, we’ve again set a new record-low for crime – but we didn’t get this far to rest on our laurels. Until every person on every street corner feels the effects of being the safest big city in America, there’s more work to do and our officers will continue to rise to the challenge.”

Key highlights from this month’s crime statistics include:

• Record-breaking first-half-of-the-year lows in robbery, burglary and grand larceny auto.
• Reductions in every Major Crime category, year-to-date.
• Double-digit reductions in burglary for the month of June and year-to-date, -17.5% and -13.5% respectively.
• A -2.0% reduction in rape, year-to-date. Rape continues to be underreported. If you have been a victim of sexual assault, please come forward. The NYPD’s Special Victims Division 24-hour hotline is 212-267-RAPE (7273)