After another shooting on the subway, New York is grappling with the issue of safety
The subway crime that Jimmy Sumampow had heard about in recent years – and his own experiences – had already led him to make plans to leave New York City. Then he saw a video online on Friday of the shooting on an A train this week.
“I’m scared,” said 46-year-old Mr Sumampow after seeing the video. Mr. Sumampow lives in Elmhurst, Queens, but plans to board an Amtrak train Monday for Florida, where he has a new job and an apartment on offer. “I feel like I need to move for a while and see if New York takes action and gets better,” he said.
For Elise Anderson, however, the shooting did not raise any concerns.
“I wouldn’t say I’m more scared,” said Ms. Anderson, a 27-year-old Brooklyn resident, as she waited Friday at the Port Authority Bus Terminal subway station for a downtown train. “I think we are in one of the safest cities in the world.”
In interviews across the city this week, New Yorkers grappled with a question that struck at the core of the city’s identity: Is the subway system safe? Subway crime rates in recent years paint a mixed picture, and like surveys of travelers and polls of residents, New Yorkers’ opinions vary.
But barely more than a week after Gov. Kathy Hochul sent the National Guard and State Police into the subway to boost security and help ease New Yorkers’ fears, the shooting seemed to underscore the limits of law enforcement’s ability to improve underground safety.
The episode took place at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station, where the police department has an outpost, Transit District 30, that is regularly staffed by officers. Just before the shooting, two additional officers entered the station to inspect the platforms and train cars, Kaz Daughtry, the police deputy commissioner for operations, said at a news conference Friday.
If this kind of protection, plus the thousand National Guard soldiers and other law enforcement personnel promised by Governor Hochul, aren’t enough to prevent one of the most horrific metro confrontations in recent memory, what will?
“They could send the military into the subway, but I think it would be worse,” Antonio Balaguacha, 56, said Friday as he waited on a subway platform in Sunnyside, Queens, for a 7 train to Manhattan.
Efforts by city and state officials in recent days to improve safety have drawn a wide range of opinions from subway-dependent New Yorkers. Some riders felt comforted by the presence of the Guard soldiers.
“I haven’t seen the National Guard yet, but I don’t think I would feel safer in their presence,” Patrick Bovie, 27, said Friday as he waited for a G train in Brooklyn.
“I feel better when I see them here,” Anna Puello, a 47-year-old resident of Upper Manhattan, said Friday.
Recent surveys by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority show that a significant percentage of passengers even if it is not a majoritydo not feel safe on the subway, with many citing the erratic behavior of other passengers as their biggest concerns.
The data on metro crime paints a more nuanced picture. Annual figures from recent years show that major crime in the metro decreased slightly in 2023 compared to the previous year, even though the number of travelers increased.
Although the total number of major crimes in 2023 was comparable to pre-pandemic years, the system still has only about 70 percent of the average daily number of passengers, indicating that the crime rate per trip is higher today than in the past. And some crime categories that have New Yorkers particularly worried, such as misdemeanors, have risen well above pre-pandemic levels.
In 2024, overall crime in the metro increased 13.2 percent through March 10, compared to the same period in 2023, but decreased 6.6 percent compared to the same period in 2022.
Officials have stressed that the chance of a rider becoming the victim of a crime is statistically small: the 570 crimes recorded last year – the highest number in decades – occurred over the course of more than a billion rides.
But in a recent one television interviewMs Hochul explained that data does little to allay people’s fears. “I can show you all the statistics in the world and say, ‘You should feel safe because the numbers are better,’ but you’re the mom on the subway with your baby in a stroller,” the governor said, adding that It was the public’s perception of subway crime, not statistics, that inspired her decision to deploy the National Guard.
However, some riders fear that the increase in the number of officers and troops will lead to more racial discrimination; some believe the discrimination has already begun. Joy Richardson, a photo producer at HBO, stood next to the Penn Station subway entrance on Wednesday as police officers searched her bag.
“As soon as I heard about this, I knew I was going to be stopped,” said Ms. Richardson, 39, who lives in Brooklyn. “I knew because I have a big bag and I’m black.”
At a press conference on Friday, Jeffrey Maddrey, chief of police, said there is a need to enforce quality-of-life laws such as tax evasion, which he noted would lead to more serious crimes. can lead. The man who started the fight that led to his own shooting on Thursday entered the subway without paying for a fare, Mr Maddrey added.
In February, Mayor Eric Adams ordered an additional 1,000 police officers to patrol stations and trains. Ms. Hochul followed up last week by stationing 750 Guard troops at various stations, supplemented by 250 personnel from the state police and the MTA. A spokesperson for Ms. Hochul did not respond to requests for comment.
“The presence of a uniform makes people feel better, and if the National Guard or State Police want to increase that presence, I welcome it,” Mr. Adams said during a news conference on Tuesday.
Some demonstrators responded to the governor’s mobilization with a small protest in Union Square on Friday evening. The demonstrators were outnumbered by police officers, journalists and curious passersby, some of whom agreed with the organisers.
“I don’t think the police keep things safe,” said Tiffany Bailey, 21, a dog walker who lives in Brooklyn. “I think they just instill in us a sense of fear.”
Others said the protesters didn’t understand the fears of riding the subway. Jesenia Ramirez, a 44-year-old entrepreneur, prefers the hassle of buses and the cost of taxis or rental cars to the anxiety she feels when she takes the train. Part of her concern, she explained, is that because the subway system is so vast, it’s impossible for police officers or Guard members to patrol everywhere.
“They can’t be in every train car or on every train,” said Ms. Ramirez, who lives in Manhattan.
As Mr. Sumampow rode the 7 train to Times Square on Friday morning, he said he noticed the increased police presence at some stations, but that it did not change his plans to leave the city. About a month ago, he said, three men tried to steal his wallet as he entered a subway station near his home. He escaped because he elbowed one of the robbers, he said, and a nearby pedestrian shouted for police.
Now Mr. Sumampow takes all the money out of his wallet every morning before he leaves home. And he bought a one-way train ticket to Florida.
“I’m going to escape for a while,” he said. ‘But I’ll keep my apartment here. When New York becomes safer, I will come back.”
Julian Roberts-Grmela And Nate Schweber reporting contributed.