There's no place on the planet like Times Square. The supersigns, the lights of the Broadway marquees, the endless flow of people—there are good reasons why this is one of the top tourist attractions in the world. Visitors to New York have tons of options here, from top attractions to high-energy spots to eat to flagship shopping destinations.

As such a high-visibility area, Times Square is constantly in the news. When there's disorder here, it's widely reported. Quality of life issues persist, from petty crime to the challenges of unhoused individuals dealing with mental health problems. The issues are real and the city takes them seriously, knowing how important Times Square is for the NYC economy. (The Times Square Alliance notes that despite representing only 0.1% of the city by area, Times Square is responsible for 15% of the economy.)

Despite the issues—and the headlines—crime in Times Square is trending down. The factors behind the drop include an increased police presence, new technology, improved collaboration, and the recovery of tourism, which has returned life and energy to the area as the city bounces back from the pandemic. 

"This is the jewel of the city here. There's so much tourism, so many different people. You talk to somebody from the other side of the world one day, and you talk to people from Queens the next day. Every block here, we get more people than other precincts get in a month." —Officer Ignacio Almonte, above left, of the Times Square Unit, with Captain Nicholas Minor (center) and Lieutenant Charisse Jenkins (right).

For Captain Nicholas Minor, Commanding Officer of the Times Square Unit, the Crossroads of the World is a kind of home turf. Minor was fresh from the academy when he was given his first assignment, walking the beat in Times Square during “Operation Impact” days. That initiative, launched in 2003, brought newly graduated officers to high-crime “Impact Zones.” Today, Minor is back, overseeing Times Square's foot patrols and specialized teams, as well as coordinating across the NYPD and among community stakeholders. 

THE CHALLENGES

Photo by Victor He on Unsplash.

There are no average days in Times Square. A quarter of a million people come through on any given weekday. On a Saturday or Sunday the visitor total can hit 400,000 people. That’s a Tampa or a Minneapolis packed into a space barely 5 acres around.

“Anything that happens, whether it's the United States or any other country, it affects Times Square,” Minor says. Political unrest thousands of miles away from New York City will be reflected in protests in Times Square. Random celebrations bring in big crowds as well, as with recent international soccer wins.

The area’s high profile means that if there’s an incident here, it will get magnified. As Minor explains, “Any sort of clip that's negative, those are the clips that go viral and keep getting played on social media and then the news. It could just be a one-off thing, an anomaly, but because it keeps getting played it’s on the forefront of everyone’s psyche.”

Another challenge is the flux of Broadway crowds, as they enter for shows and exit after the curtain falls—50,000 people spilling onto the sidewalks on a weekend night. Minor points out that attendance is bouncing back strong this year, nearly all of Broadway's 40 theatres have shows this fall, and dozens of big-name actors are taking the stage.

All the stimuli, from the masses of people to the billboards and marquees, can be a lot to handle. How do the beat cops deal with it?

“At first it's very overwhelming,” Minor explains, “but because these foot posts are there every single day they get accustomed to it, they’re able to block out the unnecessary noise and focus in on the stuff that matters.”

Things to Do in Times Square and Beyond

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THE TRUTH ABOUT CRIME IN NYC

A handful of high-profile incidents can give the impression that Times Square is seeing a spike in crime, but the data tells a different story. “We’re down 25% in crime for the year,” Minor notes. “At this point now we're trying to polish up Times Square. Because now we have a good handle on the Major Crimes, now we're looking at the pedicabs, the open containers, the people just loitering around, the homeless issues in Times Square—just to have people feel even safer walking around with their families.”

• Looking just at the stats for Midtown South, which includes a big part of Times Square, shows robbery and grand larceny down more than 10% against last year.
• Crime is down across the city. The reduction in overall crime continued for an eighth month in a row  in August, dropping 6.4% from the same month a year ago. Robbery was down 8.7% and grand larceny was down 9.5%.
• Subway crime is down 5.5% for August, marking seven straight months of declines. 2024 is setting up to be the third-safest year on record for straphangers.

Since crime’s peak in the ‘90s, NYC has led the nation in crime reduction, with declines that are more steep and more durable than other big cities. As John Chell, Chief of Patrol, NYPD, describes NYC: "We are by far the safest big city in this country."

WHAT’S CHANGING IN POLICING TO GET US HERE

Photo by Jack Finnigan on Unsplash.

​The end of COVID-era uncertainties has played a role in the falling crime rates, as has the return of NYC's tourism industry. Minor also notes changing in staffing. “Part of that is the increase of police presence,” Minor says. “The use of NYPD cameras, so technology as well. If something happens in a store, we get a photo of the perpetrator right away, we blast it out in an e-mail to all my foot posts and even the sector coordination officers and the adjacent commands and adjacent precincts.”

Within the NYPD collaboration plays a big role as well. The Chief of Patrol’s office gets involved, the Intelligence Bureau, all coming together regularly to discuss crime stats and innovate ways to keep the city safe. Minor oversees a 5-person conditions team that works from noon to 8pm and handles all the quality of life issues. There’s also a public safety team that works later at night and addresses more of the heavier crimes. A third unit is dedicated just to the theatres.

Enforcement initiatives are another big factor. Seizures of illegal guns are way up, with 4,473 illegal firearms removed from the streets through August. That’s led to the fewest number of shooting incidents in New York City during August of any year since modern recordkeeping began. Crime has gone down with an increase in arrests. Total arrests for major index crimes citywide jumped 4.6% in August to mark a 24-year high, with the year to date increase at 9.6% (a 23-year high).

Community stakeholders in Times Square also make a major contribution. “PD can't be doing this deterrent work by ourselves,” Minor says. “So all the stakeholders in Times Square, headed by Times Square Alliance President Tom Harris, we meet monthly to discuss issues. So anything that they're facing, any problems they have in whether it's a theater or restaurant or place of live entertainment. We’ll correct those issues going forward.”

CHALLENGES REMAIN

Times Square still retains its share of New York grit. There are remaining quality of life issues, from cleanliness to petty crime. High-profile incidents, while few, generate headlines. The situation in the neighborhood remains a work in progress. The NYPD has a brand-new initiative to tackle issues in areas frequented by tourists. Operation Front Door is rolling out now to target pedicabs and illegal street vendors taking advantage of city visitors. 

Interactions around mental health remain one of the biggest ongoing issues in Midtown Manhattan. An op-ed by local Business Improvement District leaders (Times Square Alliance president Tom Harris and Garment District Alliance president Barbara Blair) calls for the passage of a new bill to facilitate involuntary treatment in mental health crises. The Supportive Interventions Act would both provide support for people in need and help address a persistent Times Square issue.

Migrant crime is another hot-button issue, although one that’s ebbing. Migrant arrivals in NYC have slowed dramatically; down 60-70% since the peak of 4,000 a week in January. Last month showed migrant arrivals in NYC below 1,000 for the first time since 2022. Exact stats on migrant crime don’t exist because police aren’t allowed to ask about immigration status of suspects, but “police data indicate that there has been no surge in crime since April 2022,” when the migrant influx began.

TOURISM SAFETY IN TIMES SQUARE

Minor wants visitors to enjoy Times Square as much as he does. “If you see a cop, say hello,” Minor encourages. “We love to take photos with them.”

Walking with Minor, you see the ease he feels moving through his territory. He checks in with his officers, watches everything that’s going on. The Naked Cowboy calls him over to speak with a man in a wheelchair, who smiles as he shakes Minor’s hand. People react to the uniform and Minor is quick to interact, somehow flowing through the waves of people without breaking stride. He’s understandably proud of the progress that’s been made in Times Square. “It’s the safest place in this city and probably in in the world with the amount of people that come per capita,” he notes.

But the job is far from finished. "We're trending in the right direction right now," Minor says, "we're going to hopefully keep trending in that right direction. We're going to try to mitigate those quality life issues that we are facing right now. And just improve on our stats year upon year going forward."

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