New York City sure has changed. In 1990, the city that never sleeps was home to 2,245 killings. As of Wednesday, there have been 286 in the year 2017—the lowest since reliable records have been kept. Crime in general also declined for the 27th year in a row, falling to levels that police officials haven’t seen since the 1950s. The numbers, when taken together, portray a city of 8.5 million people growing safer even as the police use less deadly force, make fewer arrests and scale back controversial practices like stopping and frisking thousands of people on the streets.