New York Governor Hochu stated on Thursday (May 1) at Grand Central Station that the state government is committed to reducing the crime rate in the New York City subway system. The proposed subway safety expenditure has been successfully passed in budget negotiations with the state legislature.
This includes $77 million allocated for overtime costs for maintaining the New York City Police Department’s nighttime patrols in the subway. The governor said, “Ensuring that we can fund officers for patrols on nighttime trains… because they are protecting night-shift nurses and doctors, chefs and bartenders who work late, and construction workers who have to get up before the sun rises, our bakers, baristas, these are the people who keep our city running, we must ensure their safety.”
Additionally, the budget includes $45 million to deploy the National Guard to the subway as part of the “Operation Empire Shield,” a counterterrorism initiative taken by the governor in the post-9/11 era to combat common crimes.
“Before the outbreak of the pandemic, people were not so anxious about riding the subway, what was the world like then?” Hochu said, referring to the decrease in the crime rate in the subway. “Compared to 2019, we have seen a 16% decrease, currently we are down 11% from the same period last year; hence passenger numbers continue to rise, with a 7% increase from the same period last year.”
In addition to increasing the presence of uniformed personnel to make New Yorkers feel safe, Hochu also praised the MTA’s plan last year to install surveillance cameras on each subway train and initiatives aimed at coordinating subway mental health outreach programs between New York State and City.
However, Hochu also mentioned that just last weekend there was a case of a criminal fatally stabbing someone in the subway.
“This was a shocking attack that outraged numerous passengers,” she said, “I am more aware than anyone that there is still much to be done.”
Hochu stated that the budget plan also includes other expenditures to enhance subway safety, such as funding for installing platform barriers in the subway and $1.1 billion over the next five years to install new turnstiles at 150 subway stations.