NYPD hails 23% drop in NYC murders and shootings for first half of year

Rocco Parascandola and Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News on Jul 1, 2025

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NEW YORK — The NYPD saw a 23% reduction in murders and shooting victims across the five boroughs for the first six months of the year, the department announced on Tuesday, noting another month of successful crime reductions.

In May, the NYPD said its officers had brought crime down to levels not seen in more than three decades.

Between Jan. 1 and the end of June, detectives have investigated 146 homicides, 44 fewer than the first six months of 2024, cops said. There were also 397 people shot — 125 fewer than in the first half of last year — Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at Police Headquarters with Mayor Eric Adams standing by her side.

The number of shooting incidents fell by 22% and there was a 13% drop in robberies, cops said.

The only major crime category not to decrease was rape, which has seen a 20% jump in reported incidents this year. Police officials said the increase is attributable, in part, to legislative changes made last September that broadened the legal definition of rape in New York State, which now includes additional forms of sexual assault.

Officials said that 41 of the city’s homicides for the first six months of the year were in Brooklyn, representing a 29% drop in killings in that borough.

During the first six months of last year, Brooklyn was the scene of 58 of the city’s homicides, said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, who also noted that shootings in the borough have dropped by 19% so far this year.

“These historic declines in shootings and homicides mean something profound: Lives have been saved, families have been spared unimaginable grief, and more Brooklyn residents are walking our streets with a sense of safety,” Gonzalez said. “I am proud of the work we are doing, and we will keep pushing forward to build an even safer and more just Brooklyn for everyone.”

Murders and shootings so far this year have been lower than pre-pandemic levels, officials said. Tisch credited the huge crime drops to the NYPD’s Summer Violence Reduction Plan. Beginning on May 5, the NYPD identified 70 high-crime areas in 57 precincts throughout the city and flooded those areas with more than 1,500 uniformed officers at the times the violence occurs.

“Our bold, aggressive, data-driven, summer-reduction plan focuses every single day on one thing — public safety,” Tisch said last month. “Our scalpel approach to crimefighting works.”

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