Recently there has been a rift between Harry Siegel, “The City” editor and a columnist at the New York Daily News, and the NYPD over a mistake in reporting subway crime which led to @NYPDnews labeling him “Harry ‘Deceitful’ Siegel”.
Siegel had written a number of articles in which he cast doubt on the Adams’ administration claim that crime is down in NYC. In an article in The Daily News, Siegel wrote, “What Eric Adams is telling NYC makes no sense.”
This bickering does nothing to solve the problems of transit crime in NYC and distracts from the crime issue. When discussing crime and safety in NYC subways we have to distinguish between police officers, police brass and politicians.
Police officers are not the problem. What’s more, being critical of the danger and crime in the transit system does not equate being critical of police officers.
Police officers must follow federal, state and local laws in addition to NYPD’s policies and procedures. Cops don’t make the laws, and except for the top brass, don’t create policies and procedures.
Essentially, the politicians are the problem for many reasons. The first is that they don’t address the root causes of crime, nor effective and proactive crime fighting strategies when enacting laws. And top police brass, like a train stuck in a tunnel between two subway stops, are jammed in the middle between New Yorkers and politicians trying to explain why straphangers should feel safe in an unsafe environment.
There are 12 police districts in the NYC transit system that moves a few million riders daily.
Everyone knows that statistics are easy to manipulate, so it sounds good for City Hall to say that transit crime is down from 2019.
However, the reality hidden behind the veil of press conferences is that although down from 2019, transit crime is up from 2021 and 2022. According to the yearly Mayor’s Management Report, there were 1,452 major felonies in the transit system in FY 2021; 2,185 in FY 2022 and 2,287 in FY 2023. This is roughly a 50% increase in crime from 2021 to 2022 and about another 5% into 2023.
Subway riders are not paranoid. The fear is real, there is more crime and more danger in the subways.
Recently, Governor Kathy Hochul deployed hundreds of National Guard troops to the transit system. Unless there was credible intelligence of a terrorist attack, this deployment of soldiers confirms that the fear subway riders experience is justified.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughty stated, “There’s 4 million riders a day that take the train that got to their destination safely”. This perspective shows a lack of understanding and empathy for the plight of straphangers. Is arriving at your destination alive now the barometer of success for the NYPD leadership? That’s a pretty low bar to set.
There is no denying it, the crime in the subway system and the danger it causes are felt and heard by everyone except the politicians who only ride the subway with a police escort.
The root causes of crime and fear must be addressed in order to make the transit system not only seem safer, but actually be safer.
