Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday he is pushing to permanently increase the number of police officers stationed on train and subway platforms to curb a booming underground crime wave in the Big Apple.
Adams said his administration is implementing “new patrols of the subway system, including increased police presence and increased bag checks,” following a recent spike in violence that has seen three New Yorkers shot dead on trains and platforms since its inception. He emphasized that he is trying to find a “norm that is true.” This year’s.
“We’re working with police officers to address how people are feeling within our system right now,” Hitzoner told reporters after being fielded questions about traffic crimes by City Weekly. “We will continue to make sure that we move as much as possible and have a greater presence,” he told reporters. Hall briefing session.
Governor Kathy Hochul. Meanwhile, after meeting last week with Mr. Adams, MTA officials and the New York City Police Department, he is expected to unveil new legislation on Wednesday to help strengthen security on the city’s subways.
“Governor Hochul has made historic commitments to make our subways safer, from surveillance cameras to mental health personnel,” a representative for the governor said in a statement. “Tomorrow, she will announce new laws to protect passengers, new state employees to assist the NYPD with bag screening, and other new measures to keep New Yorkers safe.”
The increased attention to subway violence comes after The Post reported last week that underground crime had spiked in the months after the number of transit cops on patrol plummeted to levels not seen since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office. This was revealed exclusively.
Meanwhile, crime rates on the subway have skyrocketed in the first two months of this year alone, spiking nearly 20% compared to this time last year, with grand theft being the main cause, according to the latest statistics from the NYPD. , increases in serious crimes, assaults, and robberies.
The mayor announced last week that the NYPD would move to 12-hour patrols in the subways, but he has previously blamed the city’s rollback on its 2022 subway safety plan for the crime spike. , which resulted in a reduction in the number of police officers due to state funding. dry up.
“We need police officers,” Adams said Tuesday.
“When I’m on the subway and I talk to passengers, they say, ‘Eric, nothing gives us more peace of mind than seeing that police officer walking around the subway and train at the token kiosk. No. That’s what we want. The cops are doing it.’
Asked if the NYPD’s budget needs to be increased to make police visibility permanent on subways, Mr. Hizzoner suggested the administration is considering its options.
“That’s what the chairman is about. [Edward] Cavern and his team are thinking about how to make this radical change happen and what they will do to normalize police enforcement on the subway. ” He said.
Adams said police will also increase bag checks at subway stations in the future, and the administration is revisiting metal detector checks to prevent guns from being brought onto trains.
The New York Police Department last month increased its presence within the police system by deploying 1,000 officers per day to try to stem a recent crime wave that included three murders between January 14 and February 23. The feeling was heightened again.
The governor’s campaign did not go into further details ahead of his announcement, but Hochul hinted Monday that additional officers may be placed on trains and platforms.
“People want to see it,” she said. “They’ve asked for it. We’ll give it to them and you’ll see more people on the platform.”
“I also have a mandate for men and women,” Hochul said at an unrelated news conference about the possibility of sending more officers to transit agencies.
“I have people that I can send to different locations, so I don’t necessarily have to pay this entity. I can bring in people who are doing this.”
The push to crack down on subway crime comes after a particularly brutal weekend in which a 64-year-old postal worker was kicked onto the tracks at Penn Station on Sunday night.
A 20-year-old woman also punched her in the face and fought off a creepy man who tried to rape her at a Queens subway station early Saturday morning.
And just days earlier, an MTA conductor was attacked and slashed in the neck on a Brooklyn subway while working the night shift.
