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Crime

NYC subway crime down after despite recent attacks, says MTA 

Transit crime declined 13% in the last 28 days, despite several attacks

December 1, 2022 6:38pm

Updated: December 1, 2022 7:38pm

Crime in the New York City subways has decreased during the last month as police officers flood the stations to heighten security, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said on Tuesday. 

Despite crime in the Big Apple’s subway system increasing 47% this year compared to the previous one, MTA Chief Executive Officer Janno Lieber told Spectrum News NY1 that transit crime declined 13% throughout November. 

“In the month of November, this is important, we’re actually down 13%,” Lieber said. 

“So, since the governor and the mayor took action in late October to increase the number of NYPD officers and MTA [police] officers in the system, we’ve actually had a statistically significant reversal of that trend, so that’s good,”

New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced a new initiative in October to respond to the surge in crimes that were happening in the subway this year.

The “Cops, Cameras, Care” initiative added more than 1,200 extra officers to patrol the subway stations and help secure the city’s subway system. Additionally, more than 6,500 cameras were installed in the subway cars. 

Lieber added that last week alone, subway felonies dropped 6% compared to the same period in 2019 when more riders were using the subway. 

“There’s less crime in the subway system than there was before COVID,” he said.

“Now, ridership is down too — so way, way, way too early to declare victory — but there is a positive trend, and we’re going to keep pushing,” Lieber continued.