Yesterday, Mayor Adams touted crime statistics, noting that index crimes overall are down — with murder, shootings, burglary, theft and auto theft all seeing declines. That’s good news. But the very same city that’s growing safer in these ways is also getting less safe in other ways. And those other ways include some very, very serious offenses that happen far more often than either murders or shootings. It wasn’t just because David Paterson was once governor of New York that an assault against him made headlines and struck a chord. It’s because assaults, far too common crimes in the first place, are happening more frequently than they used to. Felony assaults are up 5.3% in 2024 compared to 2023. Misdemeanor assaults are up 9.6%. In total numbers, there have been more than 58,000 assault complaints to police so far this year. That’s more than quadruple the number of reported robberies and 84 times the number of shootings. (“Misdemeanor assaults,” by the way, don’t mean “minor assaults.” The thing that distinguishes a felony assault from a misdemeanor assault is typically just the severity of the injuries). Year-over-year trends are a single snapshot. An August report by the journal Vital City showed that felony assaults have been rising every year since the pandemic. In 2020, the per-capita rate was 234 per 100,000 population. That went up to 270 in 2021, 313 in 2022 and 338 in 2023 — and it’s rising yet again this year. Typically, violent crime rates move in tandem, which is to say that when murders and shootings go up or down, assaults and robberies do the same. That’s not happening in New York today, and we need to understand why. Another thing Adams didn’t highlight yesterday was the fact that overall crimes — which is to say not only those considered the “seven majors,” but all crimes, including violations, misdemeanors and felonies — have been rising since 2020, and have hit a decade high. Misdemeanors outnumber felonies two to one, and violations, a lower level of offense again, are also large in total numbers. All of this is being endured by New Yorkers in their day-to-day lives; it’s shaping their experience of the city. Eric Adams ran for mayor in 2021 promising to bring down crime. He didn’t mean just murders or just shootings or just the “seven majors.” He meant all the things that disrupt and destabilize and frighten New Yorkers. Clearly part of the problem here is that a series of major criminal justice reforms passed in Albany in 2018 and 2019 made didn’t strike the right balance. We supported the broad intent of changes to bail laws, and criminal discovery laws, as well as the general push to raise the age of criminal responsibility. But as usual, legislators erred in the execution, and have been slow or resistant to revisit the particulars. In far too many cases, justice isn’t sure and swift enough. Adams’ second police commissioner resigned last month amid a swirl of scandal. His deputy mayor for public safety, a man with a troubled history Adams chose over the objections of many — including in these pages — resigned Monday. We care less about precisely who is leading the Adams public safety strategies and more about whether City Hall has in place a coherent approach to curbing violence, and especially the type of violence that is increasingly prevalent in New York’s neighborhoods. How about it, Mr. Mayor?