Community Op-Ed—The Safest Big City in America

- ADVERTISEMENT -

Since day one, our administration has been clear about our vision for the five boroughs — creating a city that is safer, more economically viable, and more livable for the 8.3 million hardworking New Yorkers who call the greatest city in the world home. I always say that “public safety is the prerequisite to prosperity.” That’s why, since coming into office 24 months ago, we’ve been dedicated to making sure New Yorkers are safer and feel safer.

Two years later, the results are in. Crime has gone down across the city and jobs have gone up. We have recovered all of the nearly 1 million private-sector jobs we lost during the pandemic, and New York remains the economic engine of this nation.

When we came into office in January 2022, the city was emerging from the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and, in just one week, an 11-month-old baby was shot in the head, police officers were shot night after night, and NYPD Detectives Rivera and Mora were both murdered. The memory of that week will remain with me always.

But, as of December 31, 2023, it’s official: overall crime was down in 2023. Both murders and shootings were down double digits once again in 2023, with murders down 12 percent, and shooting incidents down 25 percent — the highest decrease in shooting incidents in our city since 1995.

These decreases build off of reductions that had already begun under our administration in 2022. And I want to be clear: these aren’t just numbers — these are lives saved, families kept together, and neighborhoods and communities spared from tragedy and trauma.

Shootings were also down in all five boroughs — all across our city — in 2023 as compared to 2022. This means our model of precision policing and our 360-degree approach to tackling crime have been working. Our administration continues to support our officers and find upstream solutions to uplift the most vulnerable in all our communities.

Additionally, transit crime declined in 2023, and we have made almost 2,000 arrests related to auto theft — the highest number in 20 years. And in the last two years, we removed more than 13,500 illegal guns from our streets.

We know that traffic violence is also violence, and so we cracked down on illegal scooters and mopeds, seizing more than 12,500 illegal mopeds and scooters in 2023 — this was a 74 percent increase over 2022, and the highest number of mopeds and scooters confiscated in New York City history.

All these measures taken together, along with our efforts to continue the fight against illegal and “ghost” guns, have laid the foundation for our economic recovery. And, in just two years, more than 285,000 jobs have been created under our administration.

Thanks to the hard work of NYPD Commissioner Caban, the brave men and women of the NYPD, Deputy Mayor Banks and his public safety team, and the other commissioners and agencies that have worked hand-in-hand on our public safety efforts, New York City remains the safest big city in this country.

And we are going to make sure it remains that way by working hard for New Yorkers each and every day of 2024, and in the years to come.