Outgoing New York Mayor Honors Community Groups, Police for Reducing Crime

Outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams said that his public safety policies have made New York “the safest big city in America.”

Adams and New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch joined staff and volunteers from the city’s Office to Prevent Gun Violence at a Monday press conference to announce that shootings have decreased by 55 percent and homicides are down 35.5 percent in the city since Adams took office in 2022.

An online statement released the same day indicates that much of the reduction has occurred simultaneously with increased police activity in various parts of the city.

According to statistics gathered by the New York Police Department (NYPD), major crime is down 5.6 percent from October 2024 to October 2025.

Major crime includes murder, burglary, robbery, auto theft, grand larceny, and rape, the NYPD website states.

Tisch said the city confiscated 25,000 illegal guns during Adams’s administration. This comes to more than a dozen illegal guns seized each day that Adams was in office, she said. Tisch added that crime in the city’s subway system has decreased as well.

“This is no accident,” she said.

Adams praised groups working in the city’s “Crisis Management System” program, run by the Office to Prevent Gun Violence. The program is meant to coordinate efforts of community groups with city staff and law enforcement to reduce violent crime involving guns.

These efforts include after-school programs, anti-gang initiatives, tutoring, job training and employment programs, and activities designed to draw youth away from gangs.

Adams said their work has made the city safer.

“I’m proud of the many records we’ve set in this administration,” Adams said. “We have never taken our eye off the ball when it comes to public safety.”

While Adams credited the Crisis Management System, information in the online statement indicates a police operation that began last fall played a role as well.

Increased Policing

On Oct. 13, the NYPD started its “Fall Violence Reduction Plan.” According to the statement, this was a “data-driven, precision-policing strategy to combat shootings and all violent crime.”

The plan designated 54 zones in 38 communities for targeted policing. Almost 2,000 officers were assigned to foot patrol in precincts, public housing, and the subways.

“Since its inception on October 13, overall index crime is down 16.4 percent and shootings are down 36.4 percent in the zones during deployment hours,” the statement reads.

The plan has also focused on combating gang-related crime.

“So far this year, NYPD detectives have carried out 61 gang-related takedowns, and the department has seized more than 5,200 illegal guns since January—bringing the total number of illegal guns seized since January 1, 2022, to over 25,000,” the NYPD said.

The Fall Violence Reduction Plan is an extension of a May 5, 2025, operation. At that time, more than 2,000 officers were assigned to 72 “summer violence zones” in 40 precincts, eight housing police service areas, and 10 transit commands, according to the statement.

The NYPD reported an 18.3 percent decrease—with over 400 fewer victims—in seven major crime categories.

Shooting reports declined 47.3 percent, and the number of shooting victims fell by 43.8 percent. Crime in Staten Island dropped 70.8 percent. Queens reported a 36.2 percent decrease. Manhattan was down 22.7 percent, Brooklyn was down 11.2 percent, and the Bronx showed a 10.2 percent decline.

A.T. Mitchell-Mann, the city’s Gun Violence Prevention czar, hailed the news as proof that the policies are working. Mitchell-Mann—who told the gathering that his niece was wounded in a shooting at a birthday party two weeks ago—said the good report is not an excuse to relax.

“This is the best time that we’ve had, but it could be better,” he said. “We still have work to do.”

Adams’s tenure is winding down. Self-described democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani is set to be sworn in as mayor on Jan. 1, 2026. Adams was polling in fourth place in September when he dropped out of the mayor’s race for reelection.