City ties 2015 record as shooting incidents reach lowest levels in recorded history under reformed policing approach
A Milestone Achievement Amid Systemic Change
New York City has tied its record for the longest stretch without a homicide in recorded history, with 12 calendar days from November 25 through December 7 passing without a single recorded killing. The record-tying stretch was ended when a 38-year-old man was shot and killed in a city-run apartment building stairwell in the Bronx on December 7, resuming the city’s violent crime patterns after this historic pause. During the first 11 months of 2025, New York City recorded 652 shooting incidents and 812 shooting victims–the lowest numbers in recorded history. November itself saw only 16 murders, tying the previous record set in 2018. This trajectory suggests the city is consolidating decades of crime reduction achievements into genuinely unprecedented safety levels.
Strategic Policing Meets Public Health Approaches
NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch credited the achievement to “right strategy, great execution,” emphasizing officer sacrifice in driving violent crime to record lows. The milestone gains particular significance given the Trump administration’s earlier consideration of deploying National Guard members to New York City streets–an intervention the city proved unnecessary given public safety achievements through conventional policing reform. The record reflects broader transformation of public safety approaches, suggesting that data-driven enforcement, community partnership, and violence intervention programs can reduce homicides without militarized responses. For incoming Mayor Mamdani, this record creates both opportunity and challenge: maintaining these gains while implementing his vision of reimagined public safety emphasizing social workers and community health approaches rather than traditional police enforcement.
