Public safety and justice are the foundation of an equitable society.
They are the keys to prosperity, good health and the ability of all to lead a productive life.
One of us campaigned for mayor on the importance of making New York City a safer place to live, work and raise a family.
A little over a year and a half in office, this administration continues to see the fruits of our labors.
Shootings are down an incredible 27% through the first seven months of this year.
That means 274 fewer people have been a victim of gun violence in 2023 than at this point in 2022.
This year alone, we have removed more than 4,000 guns from our streets — 11,000 since our administration began.
And so far in 2023, we have made 2,651 gun arrests, bringing the total since January 2022 to nearly 7,300.
Murder is down, along with robberies and burglaries, it is safer to ride the subway, and hate crimes have also declined.
Overall, major crimes were down last month compared with July 2022 by more than 5%.
In fact, we witnessed a drop in five of the seven index-crime categories.
And since the start of our Summer Violence Reduction Plan in May, major crime in our deployment zones has fallen nearly 10% from last year, and shootings have declined by more than 24%, mirroring the continuing decline in shootings citywide.
Nineteen months into this administration, it is clear that our model of precision policing and our prevention-based strategy are working.
Our recently released Blueprint for Public Safety, a $485 million plan, uses a holistic approach to reduce gun violence in the city’s most afflicted neighborhoods.
Its methods include investing in upstream solutions like empowering violence interrupters as credible messengers; funding year-round employment opportunities for young people; expanding job training for out-of-school and out-of-work youth; and providing trauma-informed care to affected individuals.
We are seeing the results of our public-safety efforts on the streets and underground.
New York City subways set a pandemic-era ridership record Wednesday, May 17, with 4,090,247 paid rides.
This marks the fifth time our subways have carried more than 4 million riders on a single day since April 20, 2023.
Before hitting 4 million riders April 20, the last time that ridership milestone was reached was March 12, 2020.
We owe this improvement in public safety to the dedication of the men and women of the NYPD and to our historic upstream investments that support vulnerable New Yorkers and put our young people on the path to employment and careers.
New York City is safer, and although the perception of safety often lags behind the reality, people are feeling safer, too.
And the reality is that despite all the progress we have made, even a single act of criminality or one life tragically lost to violence is one too many.
We will leave no stone unturned to ensure we continue to move in the right direction and New York City remains the safest big city in America.
Eric Adams is New York City mayor. Edward Caban is NYPD commissioner.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
