What you should know
- New York City police are expected to resume and enhance bag checks at certain subway stations starting this week as part of an effort to reduce rising crime within the transportation system, Mayor Eric announced Tuesday. Adams.
- The Democrat did not immediately say which stations would have greater security. He also said the city continues to review technology to detect metal objects entering the transit system. There is nothing imminent on that front yet.
- Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office said Tuesday that the governor planned to add state personnel to support the NYPD’s efforts.
NEW YORK — New York City police are expected to resume and enhance bag checks at certain subway stations starting this week as part of an effort to reduce rising crime within the transportation system, the Tuesday Mayor Eric Adams.
The Democrat did not immediately say which stations would have greater security. He also said the city continues to review technology to detect metal objects entering the transit system. There is nothing imminent on that front yet.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office said Tuesday that the governor planned to add state personnel to support the NYPD’s efforts.
“Governor Hochul has made historic commitments to make our subways safer, from security cameras to mental health staff, and tomorrow she will unveil new legislation to protect riders, new state staff to help New York police. York with bag screening and other new measures to keep New Yorkers safe,” a spokesperson said.
Hochul, also a Democrat, met with Adams and top NYPD and MTA officials last week to discuss the plans.
High-profile cases of subway violence have killed and injured several New Yorkers in several boroughs in recent weeks. More recently, a man checking his phone was kicked onto the tracks at New York’s Penn Station. He was still in the hospital Monday night, undergoing a CT scan and X-rays to evaluate his injuries, but he was expected to survive.
Last week, a subway driver was stabbed in the neck in Brooklyn, a 27-year-old man was cut on the hand in Manhattan, and a 61-year-old man was stabbed in the stomach in the Bronx in three unrelated incidents of violence. in transit. within 36 hours. A recent trio of homicides also made headlines.
MTA officials have condemned the series of violence.
The Transit Workers Union criticized the MTA after the attack on the driver, saying the incident was “a horrific example of the epic, decades-long failure by the MTA and Chairman Janno Lieber to protect transit workers.”
“We stand ready to help Local 100 as they confront this plague of violence, and the transit executives who are inept or indifferent to the harm inflicted on their own employees day and night,” said TWU President John Samuelsen. “When it comes to workplace safety, the MTA has been an abysmal failure. Assaults against transit workers on the subway increased nearly 60% last year. Unlike Lieber, transit workers “They don’t travel with a dedicated, armed MTA police squad.”
The union pleaded with the MTA to deploy members of the agency’s 1,000-member police force — officers typically seen on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad — to begin patrolling the city’s subway lines.
Recent data from the NYPD paints a worrying picture: 2023 saw the highest number of assaults on the subway since at least 1996. During that year, there were 570 assaults, which is a slight increase from the previous year and an average of about 1.5 incidents daily.
But NYPD Traffic Chief Michael Kemper says progress is being made. An infusion of 1,000 more officers into the subway system, made in direct response to the increase in crime in January, led to a 17% reduction in crime in February, Kemper said.
However, so far this year, subway crime continues to increase by 13% compared to 2023, and attacks on the transport system increased by 11%. NYPD Transit Police are investigating 86 assaults, up from 77 last year. And three homicides in the first two months of the year mark a worrying start, especially compared to 2023 right now, when there were none.
Kemper said the increase was primarily due to grand larceny, pickpocketing and property theft. The increased police presence at stations, on platforms and on board trains will continue for now, Kemper said.
2024-03-06 04:30:06
#NYPD #implement #bag #searches #subway #stations #wave #violence
