By Rocco Parascandola
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — Serious subway crime dropped 15% in February, a month into the NYPD’s new crackdown on transit rules violations, as shootings citywide hit a 30-year low.
The re-emphasis on enforcing small-bore infractions, such as laying across several seats or playing loud music, has been criticized as just more broken windows policing, which civil liberties and homeless advocates say unfairly focuses on minorities.
But police said the focus on rules offenders is paying dividends.
The crackdown on minor infractions is being tested out so far in two NYPD transit districts, one in Queens where the pilot program started Jan. 18 and one in Brooklyn where it began a month later Feb. 17 .
In those two districts, police have so far encountered 984 riders breaking one transit rule or another. Most of those offenders, 671, were issued summonses but another 313 were arrested, including 180 who had outstanding warrants, police said.
The rules enforcement is party of a larger subway plan that includes hundreds or more cops assigned to patrol station platforms and be more visible on trains, including two on each train during the overnight hours.
Police said the drop in subway crime is part of a larger 15% decrease in serious crime across the city in February, with 1,328 fewer major felonies including nine fewer murders and 315 fewer robberies than the same month last year. Rapes, however, spiked again, with 140 in February compared to 115 last February.
“In the first two months of 2025, New York City experienced the fewest number of shooting incidents in the past 30 years,” said NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch .
Tisch said “zone-based policing,” focusing even more on hot spots, such as a particular corner or a stretch of several blocks covered by two precincts, has helped spark the crime decreases.
“We’re going to continue to make our city safer by listening to our communities, analyzing real-time data, and deploying our resources where they are needed most,” Tisch said.
NEXT: New York’s dramatic crime drop in the 1990s wasn’t the result of chance — it was the product of deliberate leadership, data-driven strategy and a shift in policing mission. In this episode of the Policing Matters podcast, Peter Moskos shares insights from his new book, exploring how CompStat, accountability and officer-driven momentum transformed the NYPD — and what modern law enforcement leaders can take from that pivotal era.
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