At least in the official numbers, New York City Subway crime records are down 16% since last October.
“It’s a good day. And this is New York. It’s vibrant, it feels much better than a year ago, even in the month of October. There is a greater sense of security again. These are not my words, but the words of our passengers,” Governor Kathy Hochul commented on Friday the 27th at the Fulton station in Lower Manhattan.
The governor’s statement was followed by the president of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), Janno Lieber, who based on his accounts, stated that in January 2023, one can already speak of “the second lowest crime rate on the subway in history”, after the number of passengers was at its lowest point, at the height of the public health crisis, caused by the pandemic.
Municipal statistics indicate that crime on the subway occurred at a rate of 1.7 incidents per million passengers, during the first three weeks of this year, down from 2.3 criminal acts per million passengers in 2021. and 2022.
The rate is now almost at the same level of 1.5 incidents per 1 million passengers, before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which the number of passengers plummeted. And crime shot up to 2.8 per million passengers.
In the specific case of this month, January, the number of passengers increased by 35% and crime decreased by 31 percent.
The key
The interpretation of the New York authorities is that the action of putting 1,200 police officers in the system three months ago, more cameras at strategic points, and the strategy of persuading the mentally ill to receive treatment, set the transportation system on a path much safer.
In this direction, Mayor Eric Adams believes that the majority of Subway’s 2.9 million daily commuters now moved more safely in “cleaner” facilities.
The City’s balance indicates that crime incidents in the transit system decreased by 28% this last year compared to the previous one, according to statistics from the New York City Police Department (NYPD).
On average, six felony arrests are made in the system every day, according to the mayor.
“Do we have a long way to go? We don’t want six serious crimes a day. We want zero felonies per day. But are we going in the right direction? We did strategic, intelligent, layered, precision policing,” Adams concluded.
The state president recalled that $62 million in state money had been allocated for 1,200 daily overtime shifts for NYPD and MTA police officers. That funding will run through the end of the state’s fiscal year on March 31.
From terror to fear
In the extensive system of 472 stations used daily by more than 2 million people, it would be very difficult for there to be no incidents. But as Marcela Acevedo, a restaurant worker in Brooklyn, who must “expose herself” to the wagons at dawn, says: “there was a moment last summer that was simply terrifying.”
In the immigrant’s opinion, “it is a little cleaner and now there are more police officers, in places where there were none before.” Although according to her, she is still afraid of certain hours.
In an opposite position is the construction worker, Nemesio García who, with 20 years in New York, does not remember a moment in which the wagons were so full of homeless people.
“Of course they cleaned up some downtown stations like Times Square. And others where tourists go. But I invite you to make an evaluation of what happens at night in Corona, Jackson Heights. Everything that is the 7 train. It is a disaster”, reinforces Nemesio.
The data:
The total number of major crimes on the subway fell by 16% in the last four months, compared to the same period from October 2021 to January 2022. The numbers fell from 565 incidence to 477.