All topics / Public Safety and Access to Justice / New York City Police Department
Murder and non-negligent manslaughter
Manage public safety programs related to criminal activity. — Reduce the incidence of crime.
NYPD attributes the four-year decline in murders to its "precision policing" strategy, which concentrates officers in Violence Reduction Zones — the small number of blocks that generate a disproportionate share of shootings — rather than spreading patrols evenly citywide; major crime in those zones has fallen sharply faster than the citywide rate. The department also credits aggressive illegal-gun recovery (more than 6,150 firearms taken off the street in 2024, including untraceable 3-D printed "ghost guns") and, starting in September 2025, Youth Violence Safety Zones targeting the commuter corridors and school routes where young people are most often victimized. National FBI data shows violent crime and murder falling sharply across the country over the same period, so part of the decline reflects a broader trend rather than NYPD action alone. The much lower FY26 figure in this dataset is a partial-year total, not a full fiscal year, so it isn't directly comparable to prior full-year totals.
Researched July 18, 2026 — NYPD, Fiscal 2025 Mayor's Management Report, NYPD, Preliminary Fiscal 2026 Mayor's Management Report, NYPD, "Record Low Shootings and Murders for the First Five Months of 2025"
* Year to date — this fiscal year isn't complete, so it's not compared against prior years in the target/trend status above. The dashed marker projects a full-year estimate at the current year-to-date pace.
View as table
| Fiscal year | Actual |
|---|---|
| FY22 | 465 cases |
| FY23 | 424 cases |
| FY24 | 359 cases |
| FY25 | 339 cases |
| FY26 (YTD) | 184 cases |
| FY26 (projected) | ~245 cases |
Why this is tracked
New York City created a professional, uniformed police department in 1845, following the model London had established with its Metropolitan Police in 1829, because the City's older system of volunteer night watchmen and constables was no longer adequate for a city growing as fast as New York was in the mid-19th century. Since then, managing programs to reduce and respond to criminal activity has remained the department's core public safety function, alongside the many other roles — traffic, counterterrorism, emergency response — it has taken on over nearly two centuries.
New York City Police Department agency page — this site's own agency narrative
Source: NYPD Office of Management Analysis and Planning — via NYC Open Data: Mayor's Management Report, Agency Performance Indicators
Coverage shown: FY22–FY26, reported monthly.
Definition: Number of incidents of murder and non-negligent manslaughter corresponding to New York State Penal Law.