New York City is handing Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani the safest streets the five boroughs have seen in modern history. Shootings are at an all-time low, subway crime has plunged, murders have fallen to levels not recorded in years, and retail theft is down dramatically. But as the data lands, political insiders and law-enforcement veterans are already sounding the alarm: the incoming socialist mayor could undo it all if he follows through on his anti-police agenda.
Mamdani, who spent his campaign railing against the NYPD and mocking concerns about officer shortages, shocked critics by asking Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to stay on. Law-enforcement advocates say that’s a positive sign—but warn the honeymoon will evaporate quickly if he micromanages or undermines the department’s approach.
“He cannot ignore the fact the department is understaffed. His claim to fame is that he doesn’t want to recruit. If he wants to keep some sort of trajectory, he needs to rethink his thinking,” said John Jay College professor Maria Haberfeld.
The hard numbers paint a picture of a city safer now than it was before the pandemic. Through the first eleven months of the year, the NYPD recorded 652 shootings with 812 victims, the lowest totals ever documented and down from 696 shootings and 828 victims during the same period in 2018. November saw just 16 murders—nearly half the number from the previous November—tying the 2018 record for the fewest homicides in any month since the new data era began. Queens and Staten Island recorded zero murders for the entire month.
Transit crime, long a driver of public anxiety, also continued its steep descent. Police said July, August, September, October, and November were the safest on record in the subway system. Last month saw only 167 transit crimes, down from 222 in November 2024, marking the safest November in the history of the subway.
Retail theft fell sharply as well, with 4,221 reported incidents last month compared to 5,285 the year prior—a 20 percent drop heading into the busy holiday season. Burglaries, robberies, thefts and grand larcenies also declined month-over-month.
Commissioner Tisch credited the plunge in crime to targeted policing, including the Fall Violence Reduction Plan, which placed as many as 1,800 uniformed officers on foot patrol across 54 hotspots such as public housing developments and vulnerable subway stations. Additional quality-of-life teams and anti-gang units helped drive numbers down further.
“These historic gains are the result of our precision policing strategy and officers executing that strategy with the discipline and dedication that defines this noble work,” Tisch said in a statement. “Our plan is working, the progress is real, and I’m grateful to Mayor Adams for providing the tools that make these public safety gains possible.”
Mayor Adams stressed that strategic investments in the NYPD are responsible for the city’s sharp turnaround. “These strategies we put in place have made the city safer,” he said. “When we invest in the brave men and women of the NYPD and the strategies to ensure success, our city is safer and feels safer.”
The political question now hovering over City Hall is whether Mamdani will stay the course or pull New York in a vastly different direction. His critics say abandoning precision policing would jeopardize years of progress. His supporters argue he can maintain safety while pursuing a radical leftist agenda.
Policy experts note that low crime actually gives a mayor greater room to maneuver because the public feels secure enough to tolerate broader reforms.
For now, Mamdani inherits a city whose crime statistics represent a rare bright spot in a turbulent era. What happens next depends on whether he protects the foundation he’s been handed—or chips away at it until the numbers begin to rise again.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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One Response
Is the headline here a rhetorical question? Of course it’s going to get bad because when you have a mayor like that which people know they could take advantage of his anti-police attitude, they certainly will