NYPD in The NYC Subway, 2017.
Photo: Mariela Lombard / El Diario NY
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Dermot Shea, NYC Police Commissioner, responded to Governor Andrew Cuomo for his concerns about crime on the Metro, saying, “I stopped listening a long time ago.”
It looks like a new chapter between the turf battle between Cuomo and NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, Shea’s direct boss. The leader of the largest police force in the country made the unusual statement yesterday on the program “Good Day New York” from Fox News, where he faced questions about the growing armed violence in the city and insecurity in the Metro.
Last Monday Cuomo had pointed the finger at the NYPD and its political enemy De Blasio for turn the Metro into a rolling shelter for the homeless, claiming that the situation was even worse than during the “dangerous” 1970s. The governor summed up his complaint rhetorically, saying: “I am not going to tell my child to ride the Metro, because I am afraid for him”, although in reality his three daughters are now adults.
Yesterday, host Rosanna Scotto brought up Cuomo’s concerns to Shea. “What happens when we listen to the governor? (…) He says that he thinks it’s scary to ride the Metro, that he doesn’t think his children should ”do it. The police commissioner replied simply: “Well, you should do what I do; I stopped listening a long time ago ”.
The aunt of Gerard Sykes, a Metro driver attacked with a knife, among several incidents on Wednesday, pleaded with De Blasio the next day to send more police to the subway. “Mr. Mayor, I am telling you: It is not safe for the public transport worker or for the public to travel by train, buses and all. This is not fair ”, claimed Cassandra Sykes, highlighted New York Post.
Despite the complaints, yesterday Shea insisted that overall crime in the Metro dropped by 45% compared to this time last year. While overall subway crime, including four of the seven most serious categories, has decreased, felony assaults have increased in 2021.
The subway recorded 2.32 serious crimes – including homicides – per million passengers in March 2021, down from 2.65 the previous month, NYPD statistics show. But both figures are significantly higher than the 1.47 crimes per million users (those who pay for the service) during the year 2019, prior to the pandemic.
NYC’s violence and “mental health crisis” are wreaking havoc on the transportation system, denounced the interim president of transit, Sarah Feinberg, in a letter sent in January to Mayor Bill de Blasio. In February, the city added 644 police officers to the Metro, but an MTA poll in April found that less than half of the passengers (45%) had noticed the additional officers.
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