Mayor Eric Adams: Wow. It's a beautiful day. I could not have found a better day to do this announcement, as we sit out here and listen to the beautiful echoes of Astoria. So, you know, when the commissioner first came out with this Q-Team idea, I knew it sounded right, and I knew that it was a great, great concept as we go back to the CompStat days. It's just a way of monitoring and making sure local responses get the action on the ground in a real way.
So really, we reflect on our work to make this city safer. We cannot help but reflect on the last two weeks when we had an awful incident that took place at 345 Park Avenue. Four innocent New Yorkers lost their lives, and one being Police Officer Islam. Friday, I attended a memorial prayer service in the Bronx, in the mosque, where his service was held.
The pain is still real. And this weekend, I attended a wake for a member of 32BJ, who was a security officer who was in the lobby greeting his family. When you look at both Officer Islam and the other victims, you see true New Yorkers. And we continue to put our hearts out to their families and everyone who was impacted by this terrible tragedy.
But the moment is a constant reminder that we have to continue our steadfast approach to dealing with the overproliferation of illegal guns on our streets. And that is what we're going to do. But we also know that we have to deal with those things that are making New Yorkers feel unsafe. And it's the work that we would continue to do every day.
And when we look back at the month of July, we are exceptionally proud that overall crimes continue to topple, with some of the most violent crimes at record low levels across the city. July saw the lowest number of shooting incidents and shooting victims in recorded history, an amazing achievement on the part of this Police Department and this commissioner.
The first seven months of 2025 also marked the fewest shooting incidents and shooting victims ever recorded. Numerous other categories were also down in July, including homicide, robberies, felony assaults, burglaries, and grand larcenies. And this all leads to a 5.6 percent drop in major crimes across New York City.
July also saw the lowest crime figures in our subways in recorded history. If you take out the two [years] of COVID, when no one was in this system. You see the levels are decreasing both above ground and below ground.
But, public safety is about more than just crime stats. We see that over and over again. It's about how people are feeling. It's about what people see when they walk out their front door, what is in their shopping areas, what is along the corridors of their community.
And because every New Yorker deserves a high level of security, we are focused on how do we produce both actual crime decreases and the perception of crime. Whether it's taking their kids to school, walking in their neighborhood, going to work or visiting loved ones, they deserve to be safe and feel safe. And that is why, earlier this year, Commissioner Tisch created the NYPD Quality of Life Division and launched a pilot program to address quality of life issues across our city.
In just the first 60 days, and in just six pilot commands, our localized precinct-based Q-Teams answered more than 7,500 complaints. That's an enormous number of complaints. But more than that, they also cut response times for quality of life calls in these commands by more than 16 minutes, 16 minutes.
We also removed hundreds of illegally parked vehicles, illegal mopeds and scooters, and we expanded the pilot and expanded the program to Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn. The results got even better when we did that expansion. These teams answered more than 31,500 calls for service and cut average response times by approximately 47 minutes. And today, we're bringing the program right here to all of Queens.
Right in this borough, Queens, the borough of my raising, where I was raised as a child, we’ll be seeing safer and cleaner neighborhoods thanks to our NYPD Quality of Life teams. Our localized precinct-based teams will be helping reduce crime and improve quality of life conditions, working hand-in-hand with the community to keep our streets safe.
And I say it all the time. If you can't have an abandoned vehicle in front of a Gracie Mansion, you should not have it in front of someone's home here in Astoria. It's not fair. It's not right. And it's darn sure it's not acceptable. And every New Yorker deserves to live in a neighborhood that is safe from gun violence, has clean streets, and is free from illegal activities.
And this administration is delivering on that using Q-Stat, something that is modeled after CompStat, which has been used to bring down crime and monitor crime throughout the city. These teams can track and tackle quality of life issues using real-time data and deployment.
Additionally, we are proud to announce here in Queens today to launch our End Culture of Anything Goes campaign. This is highlighting the work our administration has done to change the culture and laws that have hurt quality of life and allowed for decades of disorder in our city.
Three years ago, we announced a bold plan for helping people with severe mental health illness get the support they need. This was so important, as we saw it over and over again. And this year, we successfully got Albany [to pass] many of these proposals that we put forward, more to do. We know that. But when you now combine the legislative approach with more outreach teams, as well as services for people who need help, we are proud of that work. We also know there is still much more to do, and we are going to do just that.
And so, throughout this week, in the coming months, we will be laying out our vision for how we still address the many health crises New Yorkers see playing out on our streets as we continue to end the culture of anything goes. Mental health support is needed. We're providing it in our subways and providing it above ground. And we know that this issue can be resolved if it's not ignored.
So today's announcement also builds on our recent achievements in delivering a safer city for New Yorkers. And thanks to our relentless efforts, the strong interagency collaborations, we now let off our seventh consecutive quarter of crime reduction. Each quarter is three months. So the math is clear. 21 months. This is continuous improvements in each quarter since January of 2024, improvements that are smashing records and saving lives.
This is no accident. It's the results of a combined effort with all of our agencies focused on public safety. The removal of 23,000 illegal guns off our streets, over 3,100 guns this year alone. And when you look at 1,500 illegal cannabis shops were closed while reopening new shops and new locations that are selling legal products and legal businesses.
And when you take 108,000 illegal motorcycles, dirt bikes, scooters, ghost cars off our streets, it adds to the quality of life that we're looking for. New York is the best place to raise a family, and the commissioner is making it happen. I want to turn it over to Police Commissioner Tisch at this time.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch: Thank you, sir. Good afternoon. Today marks the next major step in how this department tackles quality of life issues with Q-Teams expanding to every precinct in Queens. I want to thank Mayor Adams, who from his first day in office has brought a clear eyed understanding that public safety is not one dimensional. He knows that real safety means more than driving down crime, it means stepping up to confront disorder. That belief, his belief, is the foundation of our quality of life division.
For too long, the kinds of problems that chip away at a block's sense of safety have gone unaddressed. The abandoned car that hasn't moved for months, mopeds weaving through pedestrian sidewalks, vanishing under illegal vendors, loud music blaring deep into the night, homeless encampments lining city streets. These aren't isolated issues and they haven't gone unnoticed.
For years, the department's focus has rightly been on violent crime and the women and men of the NYPD have driven it down to historic lows. But as crime continues to call, excuse me, but as crime continues to fall, the calls to 311 have doubled over the past seven years. From 2017 to 2024, panhandling complaints rose nearly 2,800 percent, homeless encampment calls jumped more than 500 percent, noise complaints nearly doubled, and illegal parking complaints went up by more than 200 percent.
So in April, we launched the NYPD's Quality of Life division and deployed Q-Teams to six pilot communities. In just a few months, as the mayor said, those teams responded to more than 17,000 311 and 911 calls. They towed over 700 abandoned vehicles. They seized over 300 illegal mopeds, scooters, and e-bikes, and brought quite visible results to blocks that needed it.
Then we expanded to Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn, and the momentum continued. Q-Teams handled more than 14,000 calls, towed more than 350 abandoned vehicles, seized nearly 250 illegal scooters and bikes. Across the board, non-emergency response times have improved by an average of 47 minutes.
Still, some critics have tried to misrepresent this approach, calling it a return to zero-tolerance policing. But that is a fundamental mischaracterization of what we're doing here. This isn't about preventing future crime. It's about restoring present order. That means responding to the problems people are actually living with and making sure that they get fixed. That's exactly what the people of Queens will get starting today.
We're building the infrastructure to take on these challenges consistently as part of the department's everyday work, because it's hard to measure quality of life, but you know when it's missing, and you know when it's been restored. That's the standard we're aiming for, and the work begins in Queens now. I want to turn it over to someone who knows this community better than just about anyone else, Kimberly Elliott.
Kimberly Elliott, President, Astoria Houses Resident Association: Thank you so much, I appreciate you. Good morning, everyone. My name is Kimberly Elliott, and I am proud to welcome you all to Astoria Houses. I am the newly elected president of our tenant association, and it's an honor to be standing here before you.
I was born and raised in Queens. This has been my home for over 30 years. I have raised my three children, and now I'm raising my four grandchildren in the same borough. This community is not just where I live, it's where my heart is. Over the past 22 years, I've watched this area grow. I've listened to our neighbors' concerns. I understand what makes people feel safe and what makes them feel ignored.
We have a parking lot. I call it my garage, Okay? So imagine coming home and finding a strange car parked in your driveway or worse, being blocked in and unable to leave for work or pick up your children. This is just not frustrating, it's disrespectful. I've lost sleep because of loud noises from my window. I’ve felt unease walking into my building because of drug use and the homelessness.
In the buildings, we're in danger from unauthorized vehicles speeding through our development. Many of us have to grab our children out of harm's way to avoid them from getting hit by e-bikes and mopeds and cars. Just the other day, a tenant was keeping a gasoline motorcycle stored inside the apartment. The smell was overwhelming, like the building was about to explode. We called management, the Fire Department and ConEd. People were getting sick with headaches, nausea and weakness. This is not just a nuisance, it's a health hazard.
These aren't small inconveniences. They are daily interruptions that chip at our peace, our dignity and our safety. And when they happen again and again, we start to feel like no one cares. But today, this day, we feel like someone was hearing us. People do care. I want to thank the mayor, Eric Adams and Commissioner Tisch for expanding the Quality of Life Division program to Queens.
Having dedicated officers who will focus on everyday conditions that's affecting our lives. This is exactly what our neighborhood needs. Get encouraged. Our leaders aren't just listening, but they're taking action. They're taking real steps. We have hope now. I am proud to stand here today as part of the thriving to get it right. I couldn't be more hopeful for what's ahead today. Thank you very much.
Question: For the commissioner and the mayor, I just wanted to—throughout the calls you received, has any of the Quality of Life teams uncovered, say, maybe more serious offenses during their patrols? Maybe drugs or firearms?
Police Commissioner Tisch: Yes, it certainly has happened, Dean, and we can get you some really good examples of those types of situations. But, I do want to be clear that the direction and the focus of these officers is to respond to quality of life issues. Obviously, they're not going to ignore serious crime conditions if they see them, but the focus here is very much on quality of life. But, DCP, I'll get you some good stories.
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