New York City continued to see historic lows in crime in the third quarter of the year, but an increase in hate crimes left cause for concern, officials said Tuesday.
Major crime declined by 9.4% year over year between July 1 and Sept. 30, driven by a 19.8% drop in murders, from 91 to 73, NYPD crime data shows.
Car thefts were down 17.1%, from 3,927 to 3,255; robberies were down 13.6%, from 4,230 to 3,653; burglaries were down 11.7%, from 3,277 to 2,892; grand larcenies were down 10.2%, from 13,447 to 12,071; felony assaults were down 1.5%, from 7,972 to 7,849; and reported rapes were down 0.2%, from 527 to 526.
Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, crime also took a dip, dropping 6.6% year over year, driven in part by a 19.8% decline in murders — from 253 to 203, according to the data.
At a news briefing, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch noted that the first nine months of the year and the third quarter saw the fewest shooting incidents, shooting victims and murders on record for the five boroughs.
Shooting incidents were down 22.7% in the third quarter and 11.6% year to date; transit crime was down 3% in the third quarter and 0.9% year to date; and crime in public housing was down 5.2% in the third quarter and 6.5% year to date.
“These historic results continue to be driven by our precision policing strategy, taking illegal guns off the street, dismantling the gangs driving violence, and putting officers exactly where and when the data tells us they are needed most,” Tisch said.
“And behind every one of those results are the men and women of the NYPD, bravely carrying out that strategy on the streets of this city,” she added.
September on its own saw record lows in crime, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at the briefing.
“As the weather begins to cool, crime has continued to drop,” he said. “I’m proud to announce that we have recorded the fewest shooting incidents and victims of any September in New York City history.”
However, Mamdani noted there was “still work to be done.”
“Because while major crime figures may be plummeting, we know that even a single crime in our city is one crime too many,” he said. “There continue to be a number of areas of concern, with a focus on hate crimes, which are up 12.6% in this quarter and 12.9% year to date.”
The NYPD said more than half of the confirmed hate crimes between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, or 52.9%, were anti-Jewish hate crimes, with 245 reported compared to 242 during the same time last year.
In the third quarter, anti-Jewish hate crimes saw a 13.2% decline, from 68 reported last year to 59 reported this year.
Among the types of hate crimes that increased between the months of January and September compared to last year were anti-Muslim (32 vs. 18) and anti-sexual orientation (52 to 34).
The NYPD statistics also indicate an increase in hate crime attacks that were generally targeted at a victim’s religion (37 to 27) or gender (20 to 9).