In some cases I can believe crime has fallen - particularly in places where the victims never returned to the killing fields post-COVID. Years ago Camden NJ was a very dangerous place, then the crime fell - the unreported angle of the story was that massive tracts of the city were no longer inhabited. Detroit is probably safer that it was 30 years ago - so many people (criminals and victims) left.
That dynamic is probably now appearing in NYC; dangerous as Hell, but with far fewer people.
Some places are so dismal that even the criminals move out.