NYPD Train Patrol Force Returns; will be deployed in the late afternoon and overnight – NBC New York (47)

The New York Police Department announced the return of the Train Patrol Force, which will be deployed in the late afternoon and overnight, the department’s chief of traffic, Jason Wilcox, said Monday during a meeting of the Authority’s committee. of Metropolitan Transport.

This is not a new unit. A group existed as part of the New York City Transit Police, but was disbanded in 1995 when policing of the subway was taken over by the NYPD.

Wilcox said that Mayor Adams worked in the Rail Patrol Force when he was a transit police officer.

The NYPD reported 845 serious crimes on the subway this year through May 15, up 65% from the same period in 2021. But this year’s subway crime numbers are down 2% compared with the same period of 2019, when the number of passengers was about 5.5 million trips per weekday compared to the 3.6 million that the MTA registered last week.

Wilcox said the majority of reported crimes this year on the subway, about 54% of them, are on trains rather than stations or platforms. He said that 40% of crimes on the trains are reported during the night hours when the Train Patrol Force is on duty.

NYPD data shows cops have made 3,194 arrests on the subway this year, a 67% increase from the 1,911 recorded at the same point in 2021.

The announcement of more night patrolling comes less than a month after a Quinnipiac University poll estimated that 86% of New Yorkers wanted more police on the subway.

“New Yorkers are tough and they’ve proven it over and over again during the pandemic,” said MTA President Janno Lieber.

“They are trying to resume their normal lives, but they can’t resume their normal lives if just moving around scares them,” he added.

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