In her first speech at the helm of the NYPD, Commissioner Jessica Tisch promised a safer New York.

“A safe city free from fear of crime, violence and disorder — that’s the noble mission of this department and nobody does this work better than your NYPD officers,” said Tisch, who delivered the 2025 State of the NYPD Address in Midtown Thursday.

She said overall crime is on the decline.

“We set a record last week by going five days without a single shooting victim. The first time that’s happened since the 1990s,” Tisch said.

Tisch also addressed one of New Yorkers’ chief concerns: transit crime. She unveiled a three-pronged plan to address safety underground.

The first part is already in effect. Redeploying 200 transit officers to trains and platforms at dozens of high-crime stations. 

The second part went into full effect this week, which puts two officers on 150 trains — moving between cars overnight when most transit crime happens. And finally, there’s responsive policing, where cops will enforce system rules like taking up multiple seats, drinking alcohol or smoking. 

Tisch also announced the department is expanding its crisis intervention training.

“Beyond the feeling of disorder, this strategy is designed to address the surge in random acts of violence in the subways, because the truth is, the overwhelming majority of people who commit these acts have a long history of unlawful conduct in the transit system,” she said.

According to the latest NYPD statistics, overall crime was down nearly 3% last year compared to 2023. Murder hit a five-year low, down 3.6%. Robbery, burglary, grand larceny and auto theft are also on the decline.

Tisch said this is a result of “zone-based policing” in high-crime areas.

“We know the presence of police drives down crime and disorder and the idea behind zone-based policing is quite literally to flood the zone,” Tisch said.

The commissioner said one thing we can do to keep our city safer is hire more cops, but the number of NYPD applicants has plummeted in recent years. 

Tisch blamed the “Defund the Police” movement for the decline while thanking Mayor Eric Adams — who attended the speech — for sticking up for the NYPD.

“When people called to defund the police, you defended them. And when you needed to make the tough but necessary policy changes to make our city safer, you did so and had faith that New York’s Finest would deliver,” said Tisch.

The commissioner also said the NYPD will continue to not participate in civil immigration enforcement, but will go after criminals regardless of immigration status.