There has been a significant increase in physical assaults on New York police officers over the past six years.
The increase coincides with a rapid rise in crime rates across the country — especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
From The New York Post:
Assaults on NYC cops have surged a shocking 63% over the past six years — and police officers and experts warned this week that the trend will continue because of a criminal-friendly justice system that fails to “deliver any consequences.”
There have been 970 assaults on uniformed police officers in the city so far this year, up from the 595 officers attacked at the same point in pre-pandemic 2019, NYPD data show.
The number of assaulted cops, which includes all city law enforcement officers, is up 57% so far this year compared to the same span three years ago, and climbed 4% compared to the same period last year, the data show.
In a post on X, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch detailed various attacks against officers just over the past month and declared: “Attack one of our own and you will get the full force of the greatest police department in the world coming for you.”
In just the past month, we’ve seen some heinous attacks on police officers in NYC, including: one with part of his finger bitten off; another with part of his ear bitten off; and this latest vicious assault resulting in severe fractures to an officer’s face, among too many… pic.twitter.com/q5IfADCVAt
— Jessica S. Tisch (@NYPDPC) May 25, 2025
Several people have cited the lax approach to prosecuting criminals as the primary contributor to this increase, according to The Post.
The revolving-door criminal justice system in the city is leading to the increase in assaults, said retired NYPD sergeant and adjunct professor at Penn State University-Lehigh Valley, Joseph Giacalone.
“You have DAs like Alan Bragg who don’t even want to prosecute felony assaults against cops,” he said. “So where’s the deterrence? You have a criminal justice system that’s a revolving door and people are getting arrested 40, 50, 60 times. The cops are dealing with people out on the streets who are really bad.”
“I think it actually just gets worse,” he warned.
“I think people have just lost respect for the NYPD.”
Recommended
There has also been a notable increase in violent incidents on New York City’s subway system, according to another New York Post report.
More subway riders have reported being punched, kicked and stabbed so far this year than last — and many of them were police officers, the NYPD said.
Felony assault is up 19% in transit, from 214 incidents at this point in 2025, to 255 as of Sunday, according to NYPD statistics.
Out of the 255 assaults so far this year, 93 — or 36% — were on city police officers and MTA workers. In the same span of 2019, 44 of the 154 people assaulted — or nearly 30% — were performing law enforcement duties, the spokesperson said.
This is another result of lax crime policies. When violent people know they can assault people without facing real consequences, this outcome is inevitable.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member