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“When polls only ask people how they feel about ‘tough-on-crime’ solutions, they receive only validation for those very solutions.”
As budget negotiations continue in Albany and the mayoral primary heats up in New York City, more and more polls are coming out focused on ways to improve safety on our streets and subways. Accurate polling, particularly when it comes to safety, requires actually giving respondents a choice.
When polls only ask people how they feel about “tough-on-crime” solutions, they receive only validation for those very solutions. When presented with a choice, however, people prefer comprehensive, community-based solutions over ones focused on police, incarceration, and punishment.
Recent polls have asked New Yorkers in broad terms about complex issues like involuntary hospitalization or surging police presence on the subway. Although the headlines sound compelling, these polls failed to offer alternative solutions. Therefore, it’s no surprise that the findings support those punitive approaches to safety.
The polling, while flawed, reflects an unfortunate truth: many New Yorkers only hear from their leaders about “tough-on-crime” policies. However, the evidence shows that community-based programs and services work at making the city safer. New York City’s crisis respite centers, clubhouses, and stabilization centers keep people safe in their communities, saving money and avoiding psychiatric admissions.
The city’s Crisis Management System has contributed to a 40 percent reduction in shootings in the neighborhoods with community-based programming that addresses essential needs like education, healthcare, and employment. Bail reform initially reduced the city’s jail population by 31 percent and led to less recidivism overall. And supportive housing has been proven to reduce incarceration, homeless shelter stays, and emergency hospitalizations.
Ask a New Yorker how the city invests in safety, and you’ll likely hear only about police and corrections. But when you ask what makes them feel safe, the answer is more nuanced: according to Vera Action’s December 2024 poll of likely New York City voters, gun control (36 percent) and affordable housing (28 percent) topped the list, ahead of more police (26 percent) and strict criminal laws (18 percent).
Eighty-four percent of respondents were in favor of expanding supportive housing, mental health treatment, and drug treatment so New Yorkers can await trial in their homes instead of on Rikers, and 60 percent supported “more healthcare clinics and mobile crisis response teams so that people with mental illness don’t wait months, or even years, to get help.”
New Yorkers are hungry for policy solutions; present them anything with the promise of improving safety, and they are likely to support it. But when faced with a choice between doubling down on punishment or investing in community-based, evidence-backed solutions, New Yorkers choose policies rooted in what actually works.
According to Vera Action’s December poll, 58 percent of New Yorkers prefer a comprehensive approach to safety—funding “good schools, jobs, and affordable housing”—over increasing our reliance on harsh sentences, strong bail laws, incarceration, and policing.
On policing, the idea that we must either expand the NYPD or dismantle it is a false choice—and one that New Yorkers see through. When asked for their thoughts on law enforcement, 38 percent of respondents said they wanted to support the police while holding them accountable if they use excessive force or abuse their power.
More funding for police lagged behind by 28 percentage points. And 59 percent of respondents agreed that “police should focus on investigating and solving serious crimes and send trained experts to help New Yorkers who are homeless or in crisis,” compared to 33 percent who supported even limited use of stop-and-frisk.
Ultimately, New Yorkers want better policing, not more of it, and they support sending the right first responder to the right crisis. In many cases, armed police are not well-suited to address people’s underlying needs or de-escalate tense situations. Social workers, healthcare clinicians, substance use counselors, peer specialists, and other trained experts can better support people in ways that break cycles of instability and crime, making us all safer.
Rather than jumping straight to involuntary hospitalization, more police, and putting more people in jail, we need our leaders to look at the evidence and invest in solutions that address root causes and prevent future crime. Not only is it good policy—it’s also overwhelmingly popular with New Yorkers, provided they’re given the option.
Alana Sivin is the director of the Vera Institute of Justice’s Greater Justice New York initiative, leading efforts to advance criminal legal reform across the Empire State.
