New York City just logged the fewest shooting incidents, shooting victims and murders of any January and February on record, according to the NYPD. The department said Monday that the city saw 83 shooting incidents and 97 shooting victims across the first two months of the year, along with 32 murders. Those figures set new opening-of-year lows and arrived as overall major crime ticked down in February.
As reported by Spectrum News NY1, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch credited what she called “targeted, data-driven policing” for the drop and noted there were “1,100 fewer reported crimes than last year.” NY1 also pointed out that since the NYPD began tracking crime through CompStat in 1994, the previous January-February lows were 92 shooting incidents in 2025 and 105 shooting victims in 2019, along with a murder low of 38 in 2018.
How officials explain the drop
City leaders say the early 2026 numbers build on gains the department touted after 2025, when officials reported historic reductions in shootings and shooting victims and tied those results to a precision, zone-based policing model. A January transcript posted by the Mayor’s Office shows Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Commissioner Tisch pointing to targeted deployments, more officers on foot posts and focused takedowns of violent crews as the key ingredients, and they say those tactics carried into the first months of this year. The transcript also lays out the broader public-safety strategy and the investments that, in the administration’s telling, helped drive last year’s declines.
Which crimes fell and which rose
The NYPD’s February statistics show major crime falling nearly 8% year over year, from 8,250 incidents to 7,596, with murders for the month down 33.3%, from 24 to 16. The department reported that burglary, robbery, felony assault, grand larceny and auto theft all declined compared with a year earlier.
Not everything moved in the same direction. Transit crime climbed, with reported incidents in the system up 18.5% in February, from 162 to 192, and the NYPD says it has responded by putting roughly 140 additional officers per day into the subway. Reported rapes edged up from 158 to 161, which officials partly link to a state law that broadened the legal definition of rape.
The department also says it has changed how it tracks hate crimes. It now counts only cases investigated and confirmed by the Hate Crimes Task Force. Under that updated method, the NYPD recorded 38 hate crimes in February, including 21 anti-Jewish incidents. As detailed by Spectrum News NY1, officials framed the combination of sharp gains and worrying upticks as part of a complicated, shifting public-safety picture.
The mixed results, with steep reductions in shootings and murders alongside more transit incidents and a different lens on hate-crime data, are likely to fuel debate as the weather warms up and streets and trains get busier. Riders and small businesses in particular will be watching to see whether heavier police presence underground translates into sustained drops or simply moves trouble around.
What to watch next: the NYPD’s upcoming CompStat releases and month-to-month trends will show whether 2026 can keep pace with its unusually low start, and community groups will be looking closely at how the department’s reporting tweaks shape comparisons with previous years.
