Citywide, Major crime is down, way down, but the picture is a bit different in the Fiftieth Precinct

The NYPD opened the new year with sweeping claims of public safety success, announcing that 2025 marked the safest year ever recorded for gun violence, with the fewest shooting incidents and shooting victims in the city’s history. Officials largely credited precision policing, targeted patrols and expanded gun seizures for the milestone, pointing to sharp drops in robberies and retail theft citywide.

But a closer look at crime data from the 50th Precinct, which covers Riverdale, Kingsbridge, Marble Hill, Spuyten Duyvil, Van Cortlandt Village and parts of Kingsbridge Heights, suggests a more layered reality. While the precinct broadly mirrors the citywide decline in major crime, several categories offer a stark contrast.

According to precinct data, robbery fell 25 percent from 2024 to 2025, dropping from 138 incidents to 103. Compared with 2023, robberies are down by more than 35 percent, underscoring a sustained decline over multiple years.

Burglary declined 20 percent year over year and is down more than 11 percent since 2023, while grand larceny fell 25 percent from 2024 and remains roughly 23 percent lower than two years ago.

Auto theft dropped 22 percent, marking one of the most consistent multi-year declines in the precinct.

Those reductions were visible in enforcement actions throughout the year. In April, the 5-0 reported the arrest of a suspect linked to seven area burglaries and arrested a building superintendent on grand larceny charges for illegally renting out apartments.

The precinct also made vehicle theft a sustained focus. By March it had formed a dedicated conditions team to address thefts of vehicle parts and stolen cars, working overnight with both marked and unmarked patrols after identifying multiple theft crews operating locally, according to minutes from Community Board 8, or CB8, public safety meetings.

Officers conducted vehicle stops, followed up on surveillance footage and increased visible enforcement in hot-spot corridors. In June, officers distributed steering-wheel locks to Honda owners following repeated theft complaints.

Still, while overall crime declined, several high-impact offenses rose locally, complicating the citywide narrative.

Gun violence, though rare compared to citywide shootings, increased within the precinct. Shooting victims rose from six to 10 in 2025 — a 67 percent increase. Shooting incidents climbed from six to seven, a 17 percent rise. Compared with 2023, however, gun violence still remains significantly lower.

One such incident occurred on Jan. 29, according to the NYPD, when two individuals exchanged gunfire outside 5210 Broadway near the Marble Hill Houses. Both fled the scene, and one arrest was later made on attempted murder charges. Another shooting occurred during a July gang assault and robbery.

Among the starkest contrasts to citywide data was in sexual violence, which rose sharply and consistently in the 50th. Reported rape cases in the precinct nearly doubled, increasing from 14 incidents in 2024 to 27 in 2025 — a 93 percent jump. Compared with 2023, rape reports are also rose substantially, marking a jump of nearly 238%.

That increase included a Sept. 16 assault near the Stop & Shop supermarket on Broadway, where a 33-year-old woman was raped and punched around 5:45 a.m. Police later arrested Nicholas DeJesus, charging him with rape, sexual abuse, assault and harassment.

Transit-related violence also surfaced locally, even as officials emphasized that subway crime citywide is on track to reach its lowest levels in a generation outside the pandemic years. In the 50th Precinct, seven transit crimes, including on buses, were recorded in 2025, --- a 17 percent increase from 2024, though still lower than levels recorded the year prior.

Among them was a November stabbing aboard a train at the 242nd Street station, which sent a man to the hospital. Earlier in the year, police sought a suspect in the assault of an older adult inside the 231st Street subway station, while another older adult was assaulted at the Spuyten Duyvil Metro-North station in March. In February, a teenager was hospitalized after a stabbing near JFK High School in Marble Hill, within the confines of the precinct.

Other incidents throughout the year reflected ongoing quality-of-life and safety challenges. In Kingsbridge Heights, police investigated a pattern of robberies that led to the arrest of two juveniles, with two additional suspects still at large. In Van Cortlandt Village, robberies were reported in both June and August. In February, multiple stabbings occurred in Marble Hill and Kingsbridge Heights, resulting in three arrests, while assaults and assault-related robberies were reported in Kingsbridge and Spuyten Duyvil, including the assault and robbery of an off-duty police officer.

Among the most significant local crimes last year was one in October, when two masked thieves broke into Bokagua Restaurant at 3541 Riverdale Avenue, stealing $6,200 from the cash register and causing extensive damage to the restaurant’s interior. A month later, police arrested a suspect in a separate burglary and vandalism at the same restaurant, with another suspect still at large.

Despite these incidents, many indicators remained stable or improved over the longer term. Murder held steady at one case, felony assault declined 10 percent year over year and remains lower than 2023 levels, housing-related crime dropped 30 percent and hate crimes fell to zero, down from two the year before.