Current Events > Surge of cops on NYC subway fails to dent crime, does increase low-level arrests

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-04/is-it-safe-to-ride-the-new-york-city-subway-after-a-surge-of-more-police

New York City has a new strategy to make riders feel safer on the subway: Alerting people at certain stops that police are stationed there in case they want to get off the train and report a crime.

The move is part of a plan announced by officials in late October to improve safety in a transit system thats recovered 65% of pre-pandemic ridership, but theres little evidence to suggest the tactics will work to reduce crime. And so far, the added police presence has only led to more arrests for low-level crimes like fare evasion, particularly among people of color.

Increased policing on the subway has not led to increased safety on the subway, said Ileana Mendez-Peate, a program director with Communities United for Police Reform. Continuing to use that strategy is really failing to understand many larger city issues.

Back in February, Mayor Eric Adams and New York Governor Kathy Hochul promised to reverse the crime rates that roared back to the transit system as the pandemic dragged on and ridership began to recover. The plan included blanketing the system with 1,000 more police officers, aggressively pursuing low-level offenses and providing more services for people experiencing homelessness and mental illness.

The efforts didnt make a dent in stemming a rise in crime.
...
Transit crime across many categories including grand larceny is still lower than before the pandemic, when the city shut down for Covid and ridership nearly evaporated. The difference, though, is far fewer people are on the subways now than they were three years ago.

Prior to the pandemic, average weekday subway ridership exceeded 5.5 million people. While the system hit 3.8 million riders last month, average ridership per day in 2022 stood at 2.7 million.

Worth noting that even with this increase, NYC remains safer than pretty much all large US cities, and a great many small ones, too. You're more likely to die driving to work than riding the subway.

I wish I could say I was shocked but I'm not. I live in NYC and the police just watch and don't interfere. They want these things to happen.

Holy_Cloud105 posted...

I wish I could say I was shocked but I'm not. I live in NYC and the police just watch and don't interfere. They want these things to happen.

The more crime happens, the more money and leeway they're given.

Hate seeing fare evasion from people who can clearly afford it so I hope they are getting punished at least

Godbe-Bryant posted...

Hate seeing fare evasion from people who can clearly afford it so I hope they are getting punished at least

Congratulations, you're spending more money to address the problem than the problem actually costs

Godbe-Bryant posted...

Hate seeing fare evasion from people who can clearly afford it so I hope they are getting punished at least

How exactly is this a major issue tbh? MTA doesn't take that money and reinvest it to make transportation better. Service is worse than it's ever been, and that's saying something because pre pandemic it was fucking bad so it's not the pandemics fault either.

Man, never would have guessed that.

Holy_Cloud105 posted...

How exactly is this a major issue tbh? MTA doesn't take that money and reinvest it to make transportation better. Service is worse than it's ever been, and that's saying something because pre pandemic it was fucking bad so it's not the pandemics fault either.

I dont know the intrinsics of it. Just annoying seeing it happen.

Godbe-Bryant posted...

I dont know the intrinsics of it. Just annoying seeing it happen.

This kind of attitude is what's killing America. "Well I don't actually know why it's wrong, I just feel like it is!"

People just get told by corporate media what to be mad about and then never dig further or apply critical thinking

my guess is that if you were assaulted, robbed, etc you could find a police officer and report the crime even without the rise in police numbers. but people feel more justified in pursuing petty crimes now that there's a surplus of bored cops. god, "surplus of bored cops" is such a terrifying phrase lol

If they want to stop crime in the subways they should just get rid of the subways.

dud posted...

This kind of attitude is what's killing America. "Well I don't actually know why it's wrong, I just feel like it is!"

People just get told by corporate media what to be mad about and then never dig further or apply critical thinking

its very clearly wrong. Just not a major issue. Not even an issue enough for me to research about it. Crazy jump to take there.

It's not a major issue to you, but you seem content to throw more money away on cops for it without looking into any alternatives. Again I'll say this is why America sucks ass

Im not content with that at all. Thats why I said at least.

as in its clear this police surge tactic wont achieve anything more important than lowering my irritation every once in awhile

sorry to bring America down

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


Yep, this Godbe guy is a perfect example. Too many Americans see crime as this black and white, good (cops) vs evil (criminals) thing. Nobody ever stops to think about root causes or alternatives, or whether the consequences of certain crimes even matter or if the punishment matches appropriately

I work auto insurance, we get a metric ton of NYC claims. Cops flat out refuse to do reports for traffic incidents now, even in many involving injury. Had one last week where 4 dudes doped up in a stolen car smashed head on into my dump truck. Cops didnt show fer over an hour, and it's incredible they showed at all

dud posted...

Yep, this Godbe guy is a perfect example.

Lol ok dude

Related:
https://twitter.com/ScottHech/status/1589786085781274625

Over policing has never work and will never work.

Antifar posted...

Related:
https://twitter.com/ScottHech/status/1589786085781274625

I wonder what that graph would look like if you only used right wing media ..

CommonStar posted...

Over policing has never work and will never work.

It works as intended. The goal has never been about protecting the public or serving it's welfare. It was created to break strikes (in large urban places) and to catch runaway slaves (in rural slave owning areas). It's function in the modern world is essentially the same, protect the interests of the ruling class.

A month ago a construction worker was stabbed in the neck and died on the way home from work heading to Brooklyn while coming off the subway.

chrono625 posted...

A month ago a construction worker was stabbed in the neck and died on the way home from work heading to Brooklyn while coming off the subway.

Ok.

The point of this topic is that they're not actually doing anything about that.

chrono625 posted...

A month ago a construction worker was stabbed in the neck and died on the way home from work heading to Brooklyn while coming off the subway.

So uhh....isn't what all these police are supposed to prevent?

Why are we discussing an anecdote when data is right there

ScazarMeltex posted...

So uhh....isn't what all these police are supposed to prevent?

well, its a problem.

Subways arent safe in the early mornings and the late evenings. And the problem is the city wants you to believe cops can stop every crime and be everywhere at once.

this particular instance is tragically funny because the construction worker was helping a female Police officer who was being harassed by the perpetrator.

the same perpetrator who stabbed another person in 2021 and was given a no bail release and was allowed to walk the streets along with other priors.

tldr; NYC has a problem across the board. Violent crimes are an issue despite the numbers. More cops arent an answer. The justice system needs to reevaluate itself.

chrono625 posted...

well, its a problem.

Subways arent safe in the early mornings and the late evenings. And the problem is the city wants you to believe cops can stop every crime and be everywhere at once.

this particular instance is tragically funny because the construction worker was helping a female Police officer who was being harassed by the perpetrator.

the same perpetrator who stabbed another person in 2021 and was given a no bail release and was allowed to walk the streets along with other priors.

tldr; NYC has a problem across the board. Violent crimes are an issue despite the numbers. More cops arent an answer. The justice system needs to reevaluate itself.

So what would you suggest the answer is then? What should be the result of this reevaluation.

CommonStar posted...

Over policing has never work and will never work.

It does work, you just think the objective is something its not. The objective isnt to lower crime or provide safety to the people