The number of felony assaults and rapes in New York City rose last year even as the overall crime rate fell, Jessica Tisch, the police commissioner, said on Monday.

Shootings fell 7 percent last year compared with 2023, to 903, and there were 377 homicides reported in 2024, the lowest number of killings since 2020, according to police figures. The number of burglaries, robberies, car thefts and larcenies also dropped in 2024, Commissioner Tisch and Mayor Eric Adams said during a news conference.

But two crime categories — sexual assaults and felony assaults, a major crime category defined as an attack in which a dangerous weapon is used or a serious injury results — continued to buck the trend. There were 29,417 felony assaults last year, the highest number in at least 24 years and a 5 percent increase from 2023.

For the mayor, the decline in several major crime categories was an opportunity to tout his policies at a time when he is trying to persuade New Yorkers to re-elect him, even as he faces criminal prosecution and a perception that the leadership of the Police Department descended into dysfunction under his watch.

“I was clear from Day 1, not only on the campaign trail, but when I became mayor, the prerequisite to our prosperity is public safety, and I was committed to driving down crime,” Mayor Adams said. “We’re the safest big city in America. The numbers are clear.”

The department said it had received 1,748 complaints of sexual assault, nearly half of which were connected to domestic violence incidents, Commissioner Tisch said.

The number of rapes was the highest since 2020, though it was slightly lower than in 2019, when the department received 1,771 complaints of sexual assault, according to department figures. About a quarter of the rapes reported last year occurred in the Bronx.

The announcement of a drop in crime comes as headlines have been dominated by terrifying incidents, such as the killing of Debrina Kawam, a 57-year-old woman who was burned to death on the F train three days before Christmas, and the shooting of 10 people outside a club in Queens on New Year’s Day. Mr. Adams acknowledged on Monday that reporting a drop in most crime categories may not comfort many New Yorkers who are fearful of being randomly attacked on the subway or on the street.

“These high-profile random acts of violence have overshadowed our success,” he said. “We have to deal with the perception.”

Commissioner Tisch, whom Mayor Adams appointed on Nov. 20, said she had issued an order for 200 officers to patrol the city’s trains. More officers will be deployed to subway platforms in the 50 highest-crime stations in the city, she said.

“We know that 78 percent of transit crime occurs on trains and on platforms, and that is quite obviously where our officers need to be,” Commissioner Tisch said. “This is just the beginning.”

Mayor Adams said that kind of presence “will allow New Yorkers to feel the omnipresence” of the police “and feel safe.”

The number of sexual assaults was down during the first part of 2024 but began to rise later in the year. Commissioner Tisch attributed that increase in part to a rise in the number of sexual assaults connected to domestic violence incidents and a change in state law in September that expanded the definition of what constitutes rape.

Under the law, the definition was expanded from strictly vaginal penetration by a penis to include acts of oral, anal and vaginal penetration.

Felony assaults have been persistently high since 2020, however.

Commissioner Tisch pointed to recidivism, citing police figures that showed a large increase in the number of people arrested three times for the same crime.

Mayor Adams cited mental health as a factor in many of these crimes. He has directed the police and emergency medical workers to hospitalize people they deemed too mentally ill to care for themselves, even if they did not pose a danger to others.

On Monday, he broached that issue again as he pointed to recent random acts of violence committed by people who appeared to have “severe mental health issues.”

“The many cases of people being pushed on the subway tracks, of women being punched in the face,” he said, “it’s the same profile.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul has called on state legislators to pass a law that would allow hospitals to force more people into mental health treatment. Mayor Adams supports that plan, though the New York Civil Liberties Union said it “threatens New Yorkers’ rights and liberties.”

Christopher Herrmann, an associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said that while mental health is an important factor, other societal ills can drive felony assault numbers up.

“Is it housing insecurity? Are there food shortages? Is it the economy? We need to consider all of it,” he said.

Mr. Herrmann said crimes like assaults and robberies are the type “that really fuel public fear.”

“It’s just more of a reason we’ve got to get those numbers under control,” he said.

Chelsia Rose Marcius contributed reporting.

Good morning. It’s Monday. Today we’ll read about the early life and downward spiral of Debrina Kawam, the woman who was burned alive on a train in Brooklyn last month at age 57.

Andy Newman, who covers homelessness and poverty for the Metro desk, and I spent days reporting on the twists and turns of her life in an attempt to understand her life after her death made headlines across the country.

Debrina Kawam’s story was a tale of two lives. In her first act, she was Debbie, the girl who old friends fondly remembered as a spitfire and beloved Little Falls, N.J., sweetheart.

Those who knew her said she had an inner glow that shined through as she cheered on football players in high school, posed against a collage of Led Zeppelin posters and welcomed diners at Perkins Pancake House with a smile.

Accounts of her early life further revealed a jubilant woman who took a bite out of life whenever she could, whether that was through trips to the Caribbean or partying with friends.

In 2003, she legally changed her first name to Debrina.

Somewhere along the way her life changed, and it took a dark turn in the early 2000s. It still remains unclear what may have happened to trigger her heart-wrenching downfall.

Financial records show that she accumulated about $90,000 in debt, eventually leaving her with a handful of possessions: a Dodge Neon valued at $800, a television, a futon worth $300 and some clothes.

Grappling with alcohol abuse, Kawam racked up dozens of summonses for drinking and disorderly conduct along the Jersey Shore starting in the mid-2010s.

She tried to visit her mother in Toms River, N.J., this spring, only to find out that her mother had sold the home and moved away.

In the fall of last year, Kawam was homeless. After an outreach team encountered her at Grand Central Terminal, she entered the New York City shelter system and was assigned to a facility in the Bronx. But she never showed up.

On Dec. 22, she had dozed off on a stationary F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station when a man calmly walked up to her and set her clothes on fire with a lighter, the authorities said. Sebastian Zapeta-Calil has been charged with murder and arson in the case.

She died from burns and smoke inhalation. It took the medical examiner’s office days to identify her. But since Kawam’s name emerged, her story has become one that is likely to remain in New Yorkers’ memories.

Weather

Today there will be light snow with clouds and a high near 31. Tonight, the sky will remain cloudy as the temperature dips into the low 20s.

ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING

Suspended today for Three Kings Day.

The latest New York news

Dear Diary:

My tooth was aching as I got off a packed northbound A train at 175th Street. I joined a river of people flowing at rush hour through the long tunnel that leads to the George Washington Bridge Bus Station.

I was deeply lost in my thoughts when I was overtaken by an immaculately dressed, middle-aged man.

To my astonishment, he stopped, turned and, blocking my way, looked directly into my eyes with an indignant expression.

“May I help you?” I asked.

“You missed a whole passage,” he said in an angry voice.

“What passage?” I said.

“From the ‘Trout Quintet’,” he said. “By Schubert.”

“Was I whistling?” I asked. “I frequently do that unconsciously, usually classical music.”

“I am sort of tone deaf,” I added, trying for some reason to assuage his anger.

“Tone deafness has nothing to do with it,” he said. “You missed a whole passage.”

I tried to ask if he was a musician, but just then my voice was drowned out by someone in the tunnel who started to play an Andean panpipe really loudly.

“I am sorry,” I said apologetically to the man before continuing on. “But I really have to get to my dentist.”

— Bronek Pytowski

Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here and read more Metropolitan Diary here.

Glad we could get together here. James Barron will be back tomorrow.

P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. You can find all our puzzles here.