City sees decline in subway and overall crime in October: NYPD

The city's subway system saw a double-digit drop in crime last month, and overall crime also fell, NYPD statistics released Thursday show.

Transit crime fell 26.3% year-over-year in October, with 168 serious crimes reported, compared to 228 in October 2023, the NYPD said. Year to date, the system has seen a 5.9% decrease in crime.

“Additional NYPD personnel strategically deployed across the transportation network, increased fare enforcement, and improved rider education and awareness are helping to ensure crime continues to decline,” the NYPD said in a news release. “Excluding the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, the number of reported crimes in the subway system is at its lowest year-to-date level since 2010… and the lowest month-to-month level in October since 2009.”

Overall, crime in the city fell 6.1% year-over-year in October, marking the 10th straight month of decline, the NYPD said.

Robberies fell 6.9%, from 1,560 reported incidents in October 2023 to 1,452 last month; Burglaries fell 7.8% from 1,164 to 1,073; The number of serious thefts fell by 8.4%, from 4,443 to 4,070; The number of serious car thefts fell by 7.2%, from 1,376 to 1,277; and the number of crimes fell by 1.9%, from 2,404 to 2,359.

However, the number of murders rose 20.8% year-on-year, from 24 homicides recorded in October 2023 to 29 last month, police said. The city also saw a 30.1% year-on-year increase in the number of reported rapes last month, from 123 to 160.

The number of shootings in the five boroughs, meanwhile, rose 3.8%, from 78 in October 2023 to 81 last month, the NYPD said.

But hate crimes fell last month compared to the previous year, with 73 incidents reported compared to 79 last October.

According to the police, 33 of the 73 reported incidents were anti-Jewish incidents. According to the NYPD, 55 of the 79 incidents last year were also anti-Jewish in nature.

In a statement, Interim NYPD Commissioner Thomas Donlon said the NYPD is turning to “new ideas” and “new technologies” to combat crime.

“In addition to these innovative approaches, our traditional crime-fighting strategies have also proven to be highly effective, as demonstrated by the success of our proactive enforcement efforts, particularly in the transit system,” Donlon said.

“The presence of uniformed police officers on subway platforms and in rail carriages has provided passengers with a sense of security, and this is further supported by crime data,” he said.