By The newspaper
25 Oct 2023, 09:23 AM EDT
Gun arrests within the chaotic New York Subway have increased a staggering 94% compared to 2019.
So far this year, NYPD transit cops have made 37 firearms arrests compared to 19 in 2019 and 24 last year, according to official data.
“People who carry weapons carry them everywhere… And now everyone has them because they are not stopped or searched,” he lamented. New York Post a veteran police officer in Manhattan.
Michael Kemper, NYPD Traffic Chief, highlighted that the arrests are a good sign, leading to an overall drop in underground crime. “We’re stopping people for fare evasion and we’re finding loaded guns and every loaded gun we recover is one less gun in the hands of someone who could shoot,” he said.
Officers have written fare evasion citations or made arrests 103,066 times in 2023, compared to 67,473 in the same period in 2022, an increase of 52.8%.
So far this year there have been three shootings in the Metro with four victims. Last year Frank James (64) shot 10 people on a crowded train in Brooklyn and was sentenced to ten life sentences earlier this month. In total in 2022 there were nine incidents with 18 victims.
Since taking office in January 2022, Mayor Eric Adams, former NYPD, announced several times that the number of NYPD officers in the subway system would be doubled in a beefed-up security plan to address violence in the chaotic NYC Subway. But until now the crime has continued.
Seized weapons are not the only crime in the subway. So far this year, 15 people have been pushed onto the Metro tracks. In 2022 at this point, there were 22 cases.
Last week between Monday night and Tuesday morning, two people died on the subway at stations in Queens: an 18-year-old Hispanic teenager who apparently accidentally fell onto the tracks, and a 57-year-old man who suffered an alleged overdose .
Also this month, a suspect was arrested for dousing an NYPD officer with isopropyl alcohol, a highly flammable substance, and then threatening to set him on fire inside a station in East Harlem (Manhattan).
In August the cost of the ticket rose, while the MTA faces losses of $690 million dollars annually due to the number of users who access without paying, some for not having money and others for simple vandalism. “Toll” collectors have also appeared: people who open the emergency doors of the stations to let others pass in exchange for a “collaboration” in cash.
Ironically, very few use the “Fair Fares” program offered by the city so that low-income New Yorkers pay half the fare on public transportation, the same that applies to students, people with disabilities and people over 65 years.
Income requirements are based on federal poverty levels and consider pay stubs, tax returns or information from other programs, such as unemployment benefits or food. Check eligibility for the program here.