NYPD Reports Record-Low Shootings and Murders. Here’s Where Crime Stands on the UES.

NYPD 19th Precinct

The 19th Precinct is located at 153 East 67th Street (Google Maps)

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The NYPD announced this week that New York City recorded the fewest shooting incidents, shooting victims, and murders in recorded history for the first two months of the year. Major crime declined roughly 8% citywide, with decreases across every borough and 1,100 fewer reported crimes compared to the same period last year.

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The 19th Precinct — covering the Upper East Side — mirrored the citywide trend, with overall index crime falling 7.9% year-to-date (269 reported crimes vs. 292 during the same period in 2025).

Several categories saw especially sharp declines locally. Robbery on the UES dropped 52.2%, from 23 incidents to 11, far outpacing the citywide robbery decline of about 6%. Burglary fell by a similar margin, down 52.1% from 48 to 23 — more than double the citywide decrease of 22%. Petit larceny, which covers lower-level thefts, plummeted 38.4%, from 534 incidents to 329. Transit crime in the precinct was also cut in half, dropping from 8 incidents to 4.

The precinct has recorded zero murders and zero shooting incidents so far this year, unchanged from the same period in 2025.

Not all categories improved, however. Felony assault rose 20%, from 20 incidents to 24, and misdemeanor assault climbed 39.4%, from 33 to 46. Both trends run counter to the citywide picture, where felony assault fell about 6%. Grand larceny also ticked up slightly, rising 5.8% from 190 to 201.

Across the city, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch credited the improvements to “targeted, data-driven policing,” pointing to the department’s Winter Violence Reduction Plan, which deploys up to 1,800 uniformed officers to nightly foot posts across high-crime zones. Since that initiative launched in January, major crime is down 23.1% and shootings are down 66.7% in those zones.

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Citywide, burglary dropped nearly 20% in February to the lowest year-to-date level in recorded history, and retail theft fell 24.7% despite typically rising during winter months. The city recorded 32 murders in the first two months of the year, beating the previous all-time low of 38 set in 2018.

Transit crime was one area of concern citywide, rising 18.5% in February. The NYPD attributed the increase partly to record cold temperatures and snow, which shifted ridership patterns and led the department to pause ejections from the system during extreme weather. In response, the NYPD has deployed approximately 140 additional officers per day into the transit system.

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