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New York City Mayor Eric Adams insists his ‘blue surge’ of putting more NYPD officers on patrol in the city’s subway system is working, despite crime figures showing crimes including murder, rape, and robbery have surged 40 percent this year, compared to 2021.
Between January and October at least 2,019 felony crimes were reported – up from 1,462 recorded from the same time period last year – a rise of almost 40 percent.
October saw a total of 210 felonies – up marginally from 198 in September, according to the NYPD.
The statistics for October include all manner of crimes including three murders, two burglaries, 51 robberies, 46 felony assaults, and 108 grand larcenies.
So far this year, there have been nine murders in the subway, compared to six in 2021, according to newly released data.
At least twelve people have been shoved in front of a subway train so far this year, at least two fatally.
Major felonies in the subway system as a whole are down 13 percent over the last 28 days, and down 5.4 percent as compared to 2017, the data shows.
Part of the rise in crime can be linked to the fact more people are now using the subway system once again with workers returning to their offices.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams is seen with Officers Taufique Bokth, left, and Brunel Victor who saved the life of a man who collapsed on subway tracks on 116th Street Station in Harlem
Between January and October at least 2,019 felony crimes were reported – up from 1,462 recorded from the same time period last year – a rise of almost 40 percent
Violent crime in the Big Apple has soared by nearly 30 percent from last year
But when compared to pre-pandemic levels, crime rates are now shockingly high with subway killings at their highest level for 25 years.
It is precisely because of such violence on the transit system that saw Mayor Adams move to deploy more police officers underground, with New York State even footing the bill for overtime paid.
Yet despite Adam’s declaration of progress and figures ‘traveling southbound’, shocking crimes are still being perpetrated throughout including several stabbings last week that left three injured last Tuesday.
Video that was released on Monday shows a suspect stabbing and robbing another passenger.
Video that was released on Monday shows a suspect stabbing and robbing another passenger
Surveillance video released by the NYPD shows the suspect, wearing a black baseball cap with white lettering and a black jacket, pulling on the victim’s backpack before snatching it
According to police, the 34-year-old victim was riding the F train approaching 34th Street–Herald Square station in Manhattan at about 10pm on November 22 when the suspect asked for a cigarette.
When the victim proceeded to give him a cigarette, the suspect tried to steal his money. A struggle then spilled out onto the station platform.
Surveillance video released by the NYPD shows the suspect, wearing a black baseball cap with white lettering and a black jacket, pulling on the victim’s backpack.
The struggle moves out of the camera’s frame at which point the suspect then stabbed the victim in the torso before grabbing their backpack and the cash.
In a separate incident, on Saturday, a 38-year-old woman was shoved onto the tracks in Brooklyn. She was rescued by a fellow straphanger.
During his campaign, Adams had promised cut the NYPD’s overtime budget in half yet this summer the department spent an almost record-breaking $762 million on overtime in the last fiscal year, six months which Adams was in office for
Nevertheless, the MTA insist that the influx of police officers has led to a drop in incidents.
‘The NYPD is now putting more officers on subway cars and on platforms, and so far this month it has resulted in a drop in crime,’ said MTA spokesman, Aaron Donovan.
On Monday, NYPD officers were being praised after they saved a homeless man who fell onto the subway tracks in Harlem.
Adams wasted no time in taking credit noting how the officers, Taufique Bokth and Brunel Victor were both on overtime shifts when they spotted the man falling into harms way. Adams has described it as his ‘omnipresence policing’ strategy.
NYPD officers were being praised after they saved a person who fell onto the subway tracks
Adam’s has hailed the rescuing of a person who fell onto the subway tracks as part of the ‘blue wave’
The officers were able to haul the man back onto the platform before the train hurtled into the station. The man has since made a full recovery.
‘They jumped to the rescue, even risking their own lives,’ said Adams. ‘The blue surge in the subway system is working,’ he continued with the two officers, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell and several other transit and police officials standing by his side.
Adam said rescue demonstrates the very success of the public safety initiative he and New York State Governor Hochul started in October which provided the money for 1,200 additional overtime shifts in the subway system every day.
Two people were cut at the Union Square subway station last Tuesday in a violent attack in New York City’s transit system. Pictured: The bloody aftermath of the incident
The NYPD said the slasher cut a woman in her face at the subway station on 14 Street, and when a man rushed to her aid, he was cut repeatedly in the back of the head
The suspect then fled the bloody scene and has yet to be arrested
‘We’re on the right train, we’re moving in the right direction,’ he said. ‘We’re going southbound on crime.’
During his campaign, Adams had promised cut the NYPD’s overtime budget in half yet this summer the department spent an almost record-breaking $762 million on overtime in the last fiscal year, six months which Adams was in office for.
Pat Lynch, president of the Police Benevolent Association, used Bokth and Victor’s heroics as a means to push for better pay for police officers.
‘Like all New York City police officers, they are overworked and underpaid,’ the NYPD union boss Pat Lynch said on Monday.
‘They deserve a competitive salary that will reverse the current NYPD staffing emergency. Press conferences and mayoral proclamations will not stop cops from quitting in droves. If our city doesn’t immediately fix our low pay and brutal work schedule, there may not be a hero police officer available to help the next time a New Yorker is in distress in the subway.’
The number of homeless men prowling subway stations has increased dramatically since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite a plan outlined by Adams to deter homeless people from sheltering in the city’s subway system, the issue has not visibly been mitigated and travelers continue to be harassed and made uncomfortable during their daily commutes.
Last year, 2021 saw more subway assaults than any other year before – even in the 80s, when the then-crime ridden city was dubbed ‘Fear City.’
But Adams has still struggled to address the issue – both on its streets and below them – almost a year since assuming office.
The current murder rate, with less than two months of the year to go, is already higher than annual averages recorded since 2011, before unrest brought by the pandemic caused killings to spike.
The city has since yet to recover from that wave of crime, evidenced by the ever-increasing overall crime rate.
Meanwhile, NYPD officers are reportedly leaving the department at a record rate amid the violent crime surge, sparking officials and fed-up citizens for the mayor to make good on his promises.
But, Adams has remained confident that he can address the crime – which was spurred by the pandemic and recent soft-on-crime policies implemented by woke DAs such as Alvin Bragg, who have sought to find alternatives to incarceration.
‘We are going to turn around this city in crime – I know that,’ he asserted earlier this month when confronted with the crime surge.
A recent poll, however, showed that Big Apple residents are sick of waiting for the mayor, whose approval ratings have fallen to a new low.
The Spectrum News NY1/Siena College poll survey found 70 percent of New Yorkers feel less safe than before the coronavirus pandemic. And 76 percent of residents interviewed said that also fear they could be a victim of violent crime.
The city’s transit system has seen a surge in violent crime, pushing officials to add more officers on the subway cars. Pictured: two men fighting inside a subway car in a recent instance of felony assault, which is up nearly 14 percent from last year
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