New York City recorded the lowest numbers of shootings, shooting victims and murders in its history in the first months of 2026. According to data released Monday, Nov. 9, by the New York Police Department (NYPD), the city saw 536 shootings from January through the end of October, in which 649 people were shot. Over the same period, 230 murders were recorded. Overall crime fell 6.5%, but police point to increases in some types of crime.
According to the NYPD, this year’s figures are the best in the department’s statistics for the January-October period. The number of shootings fell from 598 in the same period of 2025 to 536 now, a drop of 10.4%. The number of people shot declined from 746 to 649, or by 13%. The improvement is even more striking over a longer time frame. Compared with the first 10 months of 2021, New York recorded 939 fewer people wounded in shootings.
The number of murders is also at a record low. Through the end of October 2026, police recorded 230 such crimes, compared with 273 a year earlier. That is a decrease of 15.7% and beats the previous low, set in 2017, when there were 244 murders in the same period. Brooklyn posted especially strong results, with 61 murders since the start of the year, compared with 83 in the same period of 2025.
The decline also extends to serious crime more broadly. In the first 10 months of 2026, the NYPD recorded 96,059 crimes in the major statistical categories. A year earlier there were 102,726, a decrease of 6,667 cases, or 6.5%. It is the largest year-over-year improvement for this period in 17 years. In October alone, the number of such crimes dropped 8.6%, from 10,670 to 9,750.
Improvement was recorded in all five of New York’s boroughs. The biggest drop in serious crime came in the Bronx, where the number of reported cases fell 11.3% compared with the same period last year. Police also report fewer burglaries, robberies, car thefts and grand larcenies. Burglaries fell 14.2% year over year, and robberies fell 12.3%.
The positive statistics do not, however, mean declines in every category of crime. In the first 10 months of the year, the number of reported rapes rose 1.8%, and assaults classified as felonies rose 0.9%. The NYPD notes that the rape statistics are also affected by changes in New York State law that broadened the legal definition of the crime.
Data on public transportation are also cause for concern. Crime in the city’s transit system has risen 2.2% since the start of the year. An even bigger difference was recorded in October, when the number of reported crimes in transit rose 12.7% compared with the same month of 2025. According to police, the increase was driven mainly by felony assaults and thefts.
Hate crimes remain another problem. From January through the end of October, 530 such crimes were confirmed, compared with 460 a year earlier, an increase of 15.2%. More than half of all confirmed hate crimes targeted the Jewish community. The NYPD recorded 279 such incidents, compared with 268 in the same period last year. The number of crimes motivated by bias against Muslims and against people because of their sexual orientation also rose.
Editor: JŁ
Source: Nowy Dziennik
