New York Subway Crime Policy: Sprinting Through a Marathon
Photo by Melinda Huspen
The opinions reflected in this OpEd are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of staff, faculty and students of The King's College.
In February 2022, I attended a press conference where Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams and other key leaders in New York addressed the spike in subway crime and homelessness at the beginning of 2022. One year later, it’s time to see what has actually changed. Did our elected and appointed leaders do what they promised to do? If so, did it work?
The short answer: barely.
For the long answer, let’s look at the primary measures Adams and Hochul claimed to implement through the subway safety plan.
Allocating billions of dollars in the state budget for professional care for mentally ill individuals.
Hiring an additional 1000+ police officers.
Stationing NYPD personnel at multiple major stations.
This plan introduced multiple other measures as well. They are all outlined in the press release from that conference.
Despite pushback from Albany lawmakers, Hochul’s massive $220 billion state budget was approved in April 2022. The NYPD also increased its budget and police force, and at least two officers were dispatched to most major stations.
However, the months following that February press conference were fraught with either gross incompetence or a horrible run of bad luck (or both).
On April 12, a domestic terrorist opened fire at the 36th Street N station in Sunset Park. Shortly after, the Post ran a story titled, “New York City subway crime is soaring because we no longer bother to prevent it.” The next month, Fox reported New York City subway crime was up 58% compared to the previous year. From that moment on, the New York City government began treating subway crime like a Flashdancers stripper, taking a “just throw money at it” approach.
To their credit, it seemed to work (initially). Crime rates, in general, have been falling year after year, and subway crime specifically decreased by 30% at the beginning of this year.
However, the city is running up a tab of $20 million a month in police overtime alone. That may not be sustainable for cops, much less the city budget. In a January briefing, Adams said the police department would “right-size” once crime stabilized. As many readers probably know, right-sizing is a polite synonym for “downsizing.”
It’s worth noting that I tried to ask Adams how the city planned to pay for the subway safety plan, only to be pointed to a staffer who refused to comment.
Even though New Yorkers are safer by the data, it doesn’t matter if they don’t feel safe taking public transportation. Crime goes up and down, but the real tragedy has passed right in front of us. When I enter a New York subway station, I have to remind myself that I live in a developed nation. You will find unaccompanied minors selling candy bars, diverse local wildlife (rats) and loud propaganda speakers encouraging citizens to report incidents while reassuring them of how “safe” they are. Where am I, Hanoi? Bangkok? Delhi? No. I’m in one of the largest, most economically prosperous cities in America.
While violent crime has fallen, uncomfortable encounters with people who are mentally ill have only increased. Just yesterday, I offered a wet wipe to a fellow commuter so he could clean off the spit from a ranting, unstable conspiracy theorist. On my commute home from writing this very article, a man loudly assured me that “I WAS BORN IN RIKERS ISLAND! I WAS IN THE ARMY TEN YEARS! MY CRIB WAS IN RIKERS ISLAND! I WAS IN THE NAVY TEN YEARS!” This essential information was interposed with multiple n-words (with a hard “r”).
Surprisingly, the city has a plan to address this. If someone is suffering from a critical mental health crisis, a qualified civil servant (like a police officer) can commit them to a mental health facility – involuntarily, if necessary. However, in an infuriating episode of self-sabotage, political activists have been challenging the law fiercely only for it to be approved just one week ago.
Apparently, these activists think being yelled at and accosted is an enjoyable commuting ritual. Why else would they be so intent on depriving healthcare to the mentally unstable and keeping them in the subway system?
Readers who have run marathons will know that sprinting through 26.2 miles is a great recipe for vomiting 23 miles short of the finish line. We are in a marathon, and the New York City government is sprinting. Will we start jogging, or will we puke?
Evan Louey-Dacus is a senior studying Politics, Philosophy, and Economics. He attended Oxford as a summer student and currently works in research and business strategy. Evan is the President of the King's Debate Society and the Opinion Editor at the Empire State Tribune.