Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Safer Streets: Governor Hochul, Mayor Mamdani, Police Commissioner Tisch Announce Crime in New York City Continued to Fall in 2025, New York Remains the Safest Big City in the Nation

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced that New York City remains the safest big city in the country. New 2025 data released by the NYPD and detailed this morning during a press conference show that the city is safer above and below ground, with murders, retail theft, robberies, and subway crime continuing to decline. Shooting incidents and the number of individuals harmed by gunfire also reached record lows last year across the city.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

 Good morning, everyone. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you for reminding us of the humanity that is involved here when our men and women in uniform go out and save lives, and prevent crimes and solve crimes. There are real people whose lives are not shattered. There's families not spending the holidays in the emergency room, waiting for hopefully some positive news or the continuation of therapy that's required — mental health and physical therapy when people are victims of crime. Yes, there's a very human story behind these numbers that we don't want to have lost, but these numbers are nothing short of extraordinary.

I want to thank Commissioner Tisch for providing the leadership that this department has needed and the executive team that responds to that leadership so forcefully, so successfully, and all the people who are out there on our streets and in our subways and our neighborhoods, who now feel that sense of pride again of being a member of the NYPD. That is a direct tribute to you, your philosophy, your way, you're empowering others to do what they know how to do, and I thank all of you for that.

And so, we can talk about the numbers — again, I'm not going to repeat them all — but I do want to say, these reductions in crime that we're talking about today, and we are — again, as a football fan — we are not spiking the football because we always know that something could change. But today is a milestone, something we could not have foreseen, I believe four years ago when I first became Governor. We were in the depths of a crime crisis throughout the nation. Not just New York, not just New York City, but across the nation. But we were besieged by crime. Shootings had doubled in just a couple of years. Repeat offenders were routinely being sprung free out to commit crimes again. Thieves were ransacking our local businesses with impunity, and people just felt so unsafe and it wasn't just our residents. The word was out among people who might visit from other states and other countries. “Oh, it's a dangerous place. Don't go there.” That's what we were entering just four short years ago.

So I also made a vow. I would take this on directly with resources and with commitment, and I decided we needed to do a better job of aligning our state and city crime fighting efforts because we had been operating as independent actors. But with the same objectives, it did not make sense to me. So I said, we'll do everything in my power to restore safety and order to our communities.

And we got to work even statewide. I launched the first in the nation Interstate Gun Interdiction Task Force. There are now 12 states working with the NYPD in New York that share information that tracks the Iron Pipeline, the flow of guns coming into our state, whether up 95 or up 81 from Pennsylvania gun shows to our streets in the Bronx and in Syracuse. So we focused on this.

Also, we had not properly invested in fighting crime. In my term as Governor, we've invested $3 billion across the state, but significant numbers here in the City of New York to assist because it's asking a lot for localities to be able to use the latest crime technologies. We've invested in drone technology and license plate readers and all the other avenues that are expensive for locals to do, but the state steps in and we say, “We can help you with that.” And I've been proud to announce that all over the State of New York.

We also had addressed our criminal justice system and had common sense legal reforms. Stronger bail laws to keep repeat offenders off the streets. We now have stronger discovery laws to keep criminals from walking free, literally on minor technicalities. We had a situation where 90 percent of domestic violence cases were being eliminated — that people make their case. They come and tell their horrible story to someone and repeat the anxiety and the pain, and they're tossed out by a judge on technicalities because of the way our law was written. No more is that the case. Stronger red flag laws — strongest in the nation, and I'm really proud of that because when you can identify that someone's making threats to a fellow classmate or showing signs that they could do harm to themselves or others, we now as a society have to take action, not just law enforcement. But teachers and other people in the community, they come forward and we find out if there are guns available, and if yes, we will remove them from that individual. That is how we're preventing crimes.

As I mentioned, we equipped the police with the best technology. More officers on the subway — what a difference this has made. I can't tell you how many people, and I walk the streets of New York every day — people come up to me and say, “I don't worry about my daughter getting on the subway to go to school anymore, because I know the efforts that you and the city have made.” And it was resources. It was money to support the overtime that was necessary and a short time the National Guard just to calm things down when the crimes were going up. But now the NYPD, the Transit Police, MTA, are doing such an incredible job.

So we've seized more guns, we've launched specialized units, and it's starting to pay off. Again, I'm not going through all the data. She stood here a long time and she might need some more water soon. But, I stand here with a heart full of gratitude and I'm going to be using my next years in office, starting with our State of the State — literally next week — to talk about our enhanced crime fighting strategies and how we're also going to protect places of worship. We are going to change the law to protect places of worship, and we're going to talk about that next week.

Tomorrow, I'll be announcing our plan to confront the 3D-printed ghost guns. This has been a real challenge for us, not just in the city, but across the state. It's the fastest growing firearm safety threat in the entire country. So no matter how far we've come, we'll remain vigilant, unrelenting in our mission to keep New Yorkers safe. And we'll continue to prove that, a partnership like the likes of which we've not seen before, is also the key to that success. And you can count on me on being that partner that's going to protect you, provide the resources you need to change the laws that need to be changed, and make sure that you have everything you need to do the incredible work that you do.

So I'm here to say thank you to the NYPD — our Commissioner on down to the executive team, but certainly the people on the street that I always say hello to and I'm walking by and just say, “Thank you,” because these are tough jobs. We should never forget that. And I thank our Mayor for having the wisdom to continue this leadership because the numbers are showing that when you put a strategy together, have the team to execute, put the resources behind it, we can keep New Yorkers safer. And that's what it's all about. Thank you very much.