Adams and Hochul to Unveil Security Plan for NYC Subway – NBC New York

What you should know

• Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams unveiled plans Friday to address the problem of lack of security on the New York City subway, as the push to get people back to their offices collides with a sharp rise in traffic crime.
• Both Hochul and Adams see a widespread return to work as the key to a full recovery of the city’s and state’s economy. But they have also recognized that if people don’t feel safe on the subway, they won’t come back.
• For Adams, a former transit cop in only his second month as mayor, rising crime has become an obstacle to his plans to turn the city around.

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NEW YORK — Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams unveiled plans Friday to address the lack of security on the New York City subway, as the push to get people back to their offices collides with the sharp rise in traffic crime.

Both Hochul and Adams see a widespread return to work as the key to a full recovery of the city’s and state’s economy. But they have also recognized that if people don’t feel safe on the subway, they won’t come back.

The plan lays out how the Adams administration, in partnership with the MTA and other state entities, will meet these concurrent subway challenges. Investments in people will provide immediate support and protection for New Yorkers, while investments in places like drop-in centers, safe havens, stabilization beds and Street Homeless Outreach Wellness vans, as well as policy changes at the local, state and federal levels will provide solutions in the medium and long term. Security measures include:

• Deploy up to 30 Joint Response Teams bringing together the Department of Homeless Services (DHS), the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the New York Police Department, and community providers at high-risk sites need throughout the city;
• Train NYPD officers in the subway system to enforce the MTA and New York City Transit Authority rules of conduct in a fair and transparent manner;
• Expand “B-HEARD” Behavioral Health Emergency Assistance Response Division teams to six new campuses, more than doubling the covered campuses. These teams will expand the already successful pilot of answering non-violent mental health calls to 911 with professional mental health services;
• Incorporate medical services at Department of Homeless Services sites that serve the unprotected. Expanded DHS Safe Havens and Stabilization Bed programs will offer on-site physical and behavioral health care to immediately address client needs;
• Immediately improve coordination across government with weekly meetings of the “Enhanced Reach Task Force” that brings together leaders from 13 city and state agencies to quickly address issues;
• Create new Drop-In Centers to provide an immediate pathway for people to enter and explore opportunities to locate Drop-In Centers near key metro stations to directly transition people from trains and platforms to safe spaces;
• Simplify the supportive housing placement process and reduce the amount of paperwork needed to approve eligibility;
• Call on state government to expand psychiatric bed resources and amend the Kendra Act to improve the delivery of mental health care for New Yorkers in assisted outpatient treatment;
• Demanding, rather than requesting, that everyone leave the train and the station at the end of the line.

Serious crimes in the transit system are up 65% this year compared to the same period last year, an average of 6 incidents per day. Murders, rapes and serious crimes have been on the rise.

A Quinnipiac poll of New York City voters earlier this month put the numbers in stark relief. Less than half of voters said they felt safe taking the subway during the day, and only about a quarter said they felt safe at night.

For Adams, a former transit cop in only his second month as mayor, rising crime has become an obstacle to his plans to turn the city around.

Many of the highest-profile crimes, like the woman pushed to her death in front of a train in Times Square in January, were committed by homeless people, so addressing that particular problem is urgent.

“It is cruel and inhumane to allow homeless people to live on the subway, and unfair that transit workers and passengers who deserve a clean, orderly and safe environment should be paid,” Adams said in a statement. “The days of turning a blind eye to this growing problem are over.”

Hochul said the mental health care system suffered from disinvestment, made worse by the pandemic.

“For too long, our mental health care system suffered from disinvestment, and the pandemic has only made things more difficult for New Yorkers with serious mental illness who find themselves homeless,” Hochul said.

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