Robberies are hovering within the metropolis’s transit system, NYPD information present.
There have been 128 muggings on trains and buses as of April 5, a 21% surge over the 106 from the identical interval final 12 months and specialists worry it should worsen.
Felony assaults ticked down 6% in the identical priod, from 171 to 160, however that sum doesn’t embrace the three horrific assaults on harmless straphangers Saturday by an unhinged, machete-wielding maniac. Assaults are up 60% when in comparison with pre-Covid 2019.
Homicide in transit additionally eked up, to 3 to date this 12 months from none on the identical time in 2025.
Misdemeanor assaults spiked by 12% – from 395 to 441 – and petty larceny noticed a 4% bump, from 46 to 57.
Samanteer Beckford, of the Bronx, stated no matter is being completed to guard straphangers, isn’t sufficient.
“The homeless are a difficulty,” the 32-year-old stated. “Extra must be completed.”
Underneath former Mayor Eric Adams, the NYPD deployed 200 extra officers for prepare patrols in January 2025 to fight crime and enhance the notion of security. The cops particularly focused in a single day shifts with two officers per prepare.
Crime went down below that initiative, however extra time cuts in February below Mayor Mamdani’s new administration lowered these patrols.
“It’s regarding as a result of summer season is coming,” stated former NYPD Detective Michael Alcazar, an adjunct professor at John Jay School of Legal Justice.
“I feel that simply exhibits that the police division is de facto quick on uniformed officers,” he stated.
“I’m positive the dangerous guys are realizing that too,” he stated. “They’ll virtually predict the place police are going to be they usually’re timing it.”
Final week, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch boasted of a formidable total 5.3% drop in citywide crime and a extra modest 1.3% drop in subway crime as of March 29.
“It’s actually dangerous as a result of persons are just about pressured to take the subway due to congestion pricing,” a longtime Bronx police officer stated. “Now they’re pressured to stroll round with their heads on a swivel.”
Robberies within the subway are sometimes pushed by children, the NYPD stated, including that 34% of the incidents to date this 12 months have been dedicated by juveniles and 63% have led to arrests.
The theft enhance was 54% in January and February, in comparison with the identical interval in 2025, coinciding with file chilly temperatures and snow that pushed extra folks onto town’s crammed trains. The incidents trended downward in March, an NYPD spokesman stated.
Riders are on edge after latest crimes, together with one wherein three associates on a Bronx subway automotive have been crushed, kicked and lower with a knife whereas a gang of eight strangers stole their electronics.
“The security on the trains is just not good proper now,” stated Ronald Stokes, 55, an assistant superintendent for NYCHA who lives in Harlem and needs extra cops.
“They should experience the trains … to face exterior the station is one factor however to experience the trains could be an enormous assist.”
Claude Butler, a dispatcher for Constitution Communications who additionally lives in Harlem, stated he appears like he all the time must be on the defensive within the subway “since you by no means know what can occur.”
“Simply this morning I needed to include my spouse as a result of I don’t really feel it’s secure for her to experience alone,” the 62-year-old stated. “A number of occasions, after I’m not together with her, guys method her. Generally they brush up in opposition to her.”
He additionally identified that the officers within the system are primarily on the platforms.
“When [the police] are right here, I simply see them within the stations,” he stated. “I don’t see them on the trains… they need to experience the trains.”
Mayor Mamdani campaigned partly on slicing the NYPD’s funds, together with shuttering the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group, which handles protests and counter-terrorism above and beneath floor.
The NYPD Strategic Response Group (SRG)is a specialised unit centered on counterterrorism, large-scale protests, and important incidents moderately than routine transit policing. Whereas the SRG has been deployed to NYC subway stations, it’s usually used for high-profile incidents or particular operations, not common each day patrols.
Town must flood the subway with cops for the summer season, Alcazar stated.
“I feel robberies are going to extend as a result of there’s going to be extra riders and there’s going to be extra dangerous guys, particularly within the subway,” Alcazar stated. “We have to have an omnipresence.”
