You are reading

NYPD to Deploy 250 More Officers to Patrol the Subway

Mayor Bill de Blasio on the F train (Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

May 17, 2021 By Allie Griffin

The NYPD will be adding 250 extra cops to patrol the subway system—which will result in the network having the largest police presence in more than 25 years, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday.

The additional cops will bring the total number of officers securing the subways to 3,250, and follows an uptick in violent crimes within the system. Just this weekend, five straphangers were slashed on trains in Manhattan.

“Today we’re announcing an additional 250 officers on a special deployment on top of the previous 500 on top of the previous 2,500,” de Blasio said.

The announcement also comes as 24/7 subway service resumed today after more than a year of overnight closures due to COVID-19 and low ridership.

The 250 additional officers brings the total number of officers within the subway system to the highest level in more than two decades, according to the mayor.

“We’re going to take officers and put them in the right places in the subways at the right time, particularly at peak times of ridership,” de Blasio said.

He also said that the system will get safer as ridership increases.

Officials with the MTA — which is controlled by the state — have repeatedly criticized de Blasio for the uptick in subway crime. They have demanded more cops in the system for months.

email the author: news@queenspost.com

2 Comments

Click for Comments 
Bertha Coombs

but but but… our impressive mayor has stated several times there isn’t any crime in the subways and crime is down overall and anyone who complains isnt a real new yorker. why would they add police if there isn’t any crime!?

Reply
Larry Penner

MTA Chairman Pat Foye has a clear conflict when he said that the role of hundreds of new officers would be other than deterring fare beaters. Didn’t he previously announce a crack down on fare beaters as a method to significantly reduce the loss of several hundred million in annual pre-COVID-19 revenue losses attributed to a growing number of riders who would not pay their fare. Is this not an invitation for more people to ride for free, thus adding to the MTA’s financial deficit?

While Mayor Bill de Blasio & the MTA fought over the level of police, it was interesting that no one asked Governor Cuomo to increase the number of State Troopers assigned to NYC. They could be assigned to patrol Penn Station, Grand Central Terminal, Atlantic Terminal and Jamaica Station & adjacent subway stations. This would free up both NYC & MTA police to patrol many of the 467 of 471 other subway stations and subway trains.

(Larry Penner is a transportation advocate, historian and writer who previously worked for the Federal Transit Administration Region 2 New York Office. This included the development, review, approval and oversight for billions in capital projects and programs for the MTA, NYC Transit, Long Island Rail Road, Metro North Rail Road MTA Bus, NYC DOT Staten Island Ferry along with 30 other transit agencies in NY & NJ).

Reply

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Repeat hate crime offender charged in anti-Muslim subway attack in Forest Hills: DA

A Southeast Queens man is being held without bail after he was criminally charged with assault in the first degree as a hate crime and other charges for allegedly punching and kicking a Muslim woman on an E train in Forest Hills during the early morning hours of Wednesday, June 18.

Naved Durrni, 34, of 106th Avenue in Jamaica, was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on Thursday and additionally charged with aggravated harassment in the first and second degrees.

Hate Crimes Task Force investigating bomb threats against Mamdani: NYPD

The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force launched a probe into multiple death threats made against Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani after his district office at 24-08 32nd St. in Astoria received four expletive-filled phone voicemails, on various dates, making threatening anti-Muslim statements by an unknown individual, including a threat to blow up his car.

The calls were made from an untraceable number and labeled the mayoral candidate a “terrorist who is not welcome in New York or America” in a message phoned in on Wednesday morning.

Seven teens indicted for attempted murder in brutal Kissena Park gang attack on two girls: DA

A Queens grand jury indicted seven teenagers for attempted murder, gang assault, robbery, and other crimes for an attack on two girls inside Kissena Park in Flushing in early May.

The defendants, who are all 17 years old, were variously arraigned in Queens Supreme Court between June 4 and Wednesday in two separate 25-count indictments with two counts of attempted murder in the second degree. If convicted, they face up to 25 years in prison.

Queens Defenders founder charged with stealing nonprofit funds as second scandal unfolds

The founder of the Queens Defenders and her husband have lawyered up after they were indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly stealing tens of thousands of dollars from the non-profit organization.

Former Queens Defenders executive director Lori Zeno, 64, surrendered Wednesday at the Brooklyn federal courthouse. Zeno was arraigned on an indictment charging her and Rashad Ruhani, 55, with wire fraud conspiracy, theft, money laundering conspiracy and other crimes.