While incidents of violence do not stop on public transportation, including three fatalities shot this year in the New York Subway, police have seized 113% more guns in 2024.
NYPD seized 17 firearms to people arrested on buses and the Metro through March 3, more than double the 8 confiscated during the same period in 2023. And the 299 knives and other sharp weapons found represent a 50% increase over last year, the data shows.
Additionally, a report last month indicated that crime on the NYC Subway had increased 22.6% compared to the same period last year. Most cases so far in 2024 have been grand theftbut there have also been fatal shootings and attempted homicides.
“Criminals are more emboldened than ever to carry a firearm because they know there are no consequences.”
Paul DiGiacomo – President of the NYPD Detectives Union (DEA)
Before the pandemic, in 2019, only 126 weapons – white and firearms – were seized during this period. “The chances of confiscating a gun are high because criminals are more emboldened than ever to carry a firearm because they know there are no consequences,” said to New York Post Paul DiGiacomo, president of the New York police detectives union (DEA), blaming the state’s failed criminal justice system.
“The real question is when will state legislators, district attorneys and the City Council recognize and fix the crisis they created,” he added.
The shocking statistics emerge when Gov. Kathy Hochul last week deployed 750 National Guardsmen along with 250 state and MTA police to search passengers’ belongings. at busy stations, citing violent incidents such as the near-fatal cut to the neck of a Metro driver and the postal worker being kicked onto the rails.
The violence has not stopped after the announcement of the governor’s security reinforcement: a young woman was amputated after being thrown onto a train by her Hispanic boyfriend on Sunday in Lower Manhattan.
Many gun seizures this year occurred during arrests for entering the Metro without paying. “The increase in gun seizures can be attributed to the continued work of NYPD officers, who remain committed to the public safety mission by confront anarchy, proactively confront criminals and remove guns from the Subway system at near-historic levels,” an NYPD spokesperson said.
Since taking office in January 2022, Mayor Eric Adams – former NYPD – had already announced several times the increase in police presence on Metro platforms in the fight against the scourge of underground crime. But violence has continued on public transportation.
According to NYPD, state laws have made theft a promising option for some criminals such as Reynaldo Quiñones, a 32-year-old man who has made 54 arrests in New York City, most of them in the Subway.
In January 2023, it was estimated that some 3,400 homeless people were living in subway cars and stations and other trains in NYC, many of them with mental illnesses or emotional disorders and sometimes they carry out acts of violence or are run over. Overall, train collisions with people on platforms and rails saw an alarming increase of 25% in four years (2018 to 2022).
2024-03-13 19:06:00
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