ALL ABOUT NEW YORK
Public safety
Main articles: New York City Police Department, New York City Fire Department, Crime in New York City, and Law enforcement in New York City
New York Police Department (NYPD) police officers in Brooklyn
The Fire Department of New York (FDNY), the largest municipal fire department in the United States
The New York Police Department (NYPD) is the largest police force in the United States, with more than 36,000 sworn officers, more than triple the size of the Chicago Police Department.[325] Members of the NYPD are frequently referred to by politicians, the media, and their own police cars by the nickname, New York's Finest.[326]
The city saw a spike in crime in the 1970s through 1990s.[327] Crime overall has trended downward in New York City since the 1990s;[328] violent crime decreased more than 75% from 1993 to 2005, and continued decreasing during periods when the nation as a whole saw increases.[329] The NYPD's stop-and-frisk program was declared unconstitutional in 2013 as a "policy of indirect racial profiling" of Black and Hispanic residents,[330] although claims of disparate impact continued in subsequent years.[331] The stop-and-frisk program had been widely credited as being behind the decline in crime, though rates continued dropping in the years after the program ended.[332][333]
The city set a record of 2,245 murders in 1990 and hit a near-70-year record low of 289 in 2018.[334] The number of murders and the rate of 3.3 per 100,000 residents in 2017 was the lowest since 1951.[335] New York City recorded 386 murders in 2023, a decline of 12% from the previous year.[336][337] New York City had one of the lowest homicide rates among the ten largest U.S. cities at 5.5 per 100,000 residents in 2021, behind San Jose, California, at 3.1 per 100,000.[338]
New York City has stricter gun laws than most other cities in the U.S.—a license to own any firearm is required in New York City, and the NY SAFE Act of 2013 banned assault weapons—and New York State had the fifth-lowest gun death rate of the states in 2020.[339]
Organized crime has long been associated with New York City, beginning with the Forty Thieves and the Roach Guards in the Five Points neighborhood in the 1820s, followed by the Tongs in the same neighborhood, which ultimately evolved into Chinatown, Manhattan. The 20th century saw a rise in the Mafia, dominated by the Five Families, as well as in gangs, including the Black Spades.[340] The Mafia and gang presence has declined in the city in the 21st century.[341][342]
The Fire Department of New York (FDNY) provides fire protection, technical rescue, primary response to biological, chemical, and radioactive hazards, and emergency medical services. FDNY faces multifaceted firefighting challenges in many ways unique to New York. In addition to responding to building types that range from wood-frame single family homes to high-rise structures, the FDNY responds to fires that occur in the New York City Subway.[343] Secluded bridges and tunnels, as well as large parks and wooded areas that can give rise to brush fires, also present challenges. The FDNY is headquartered at 9 MetroTech Center in Downtown Brooklyn,[344] and the FDNY Fire Academy is on Randalls Island.[345]
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