First off, the general public’s worries about violence and disorder in the subway systems are more than justified. While crime rates have dipped from the heights they reached during the pandemic, 2024’s violent subway crimes are still 14% higher than they were in 2019, even though we’re seeing fewer riders post-pandemic.
Another alarming factor is how these crimes have evolved, with an increase that unnerves many passengers. Just last year, felony assaults—often executed by repeat offenders and without any apparent trigger—rose to 55% above 2019 levels. That’s higher than we’ve seen since at least 1997. The ten homicides recorded last year, along with one arguably justified killing during a robbery and another violent death stemming from a fight, marked the highest fatality count during this period. Before 2019, it took around six years to reach such a number of homicides.
Secondly, achieving the safety levels of pre-2020 times requires focused policing efforts, not just the temporary measures championed by Mr. Adams. Following a strategy initiated during the final year of Bill de Blasio’s tenure, Mr. Adams, backed financially by Gov. Kathy Hochul, resorts to using overtime shifts and reallocating street officers to increase police presence in the subways sporadically. When the high-profile crimes decline, these additional officers vanish, only for the cycle to start over again.
The city’s dependence on these measures stems from a significant shortfall in the dedicated transit-police force within the New York Police Department, which numbers about 2,700 officers. This is far below the 4,100 officers during the mid-1990s—a period when crime rates dramatically decreased from previous highs. Despite his 2021 commitment to reduce subway crime, Mr. Adams hasn’t yet proposed a solid solution to this staffing challenge.
Mr. Cuomo has suggested boosting the transit police numbers to 4,000, ensuring consistent enforcement of subway regulations, like stopping people from sprawling across seats or smoking. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch has started implementing some of these enforcement strategies with promising early outcomes. However, without bolstering the number of transit officers, maintaining these efforts isn’t feasible in the long run.
