Recently there have been increasing reports of acts of violence in New York’s subways – several times with fatal outcomes. Governor Hochul announced an increased security offensive.
Panic in a stationary subway. Passengers crouch on the ground. Their heads ducked, they hold each other. “Close the door!” shouts a woman. “Where are the police?” Passengers traveling home or to an event in a crowded train during rush hour are afraid of a shooter.
“Active shooter,” calls a voice over the phone to the emergency number 911. He had drawn a gun in an argument with another young man while the train was pulling into a station in the Brooklyn district. A 32-year-old dies as a result of his gunshot wound. While some passengers remain frightened in the carriage, others flee onto the platform. An eyewitness reported on the TV station ABC: “As I come out, I hear three or four shots: pop, pop, pop… Then the door opens. Everyone streams out.”
More and more reports of violence in the New York subway
The incident in mid-March is just one of many recent acts of violence on the New York subway. Shortly before, there was a shooting in a station in the Bronx: one man died and five passengers were injured. A few days ago, a 24-year-old pushed a waiting passenger onto the tracks. The fatal incident in Harlem appears to have occurred completely unprovoked. Likewise the attack on David Beaglehole on the well-to-do Upper East Side in Manhattan. A man blatantly hits him with an umbrella and then tries to push him down the escalator.
Week after week there are more and more headlines about New York’s subway, which is used by more than five million people every day. According to police figures, there were 570 registered physical attacks on trains or stations last year. A high number – but compared to the millions of trips, not sensationally high, says Mayor Eric Adams, who is an ex-police officer and himself often worked on subways.
Isn’t everything so bad?
According to the latest figures from the New York Police Department, the crime rate in the metropolis’ subway has fallen by 15 percent compared to the previous year. But such relativizations would not help passengers if they still felt unsafe, explains New York Governor Kathy Hochul. “Statistically speaking, it’s not as bad as it was. But I know: This doesn’t help anyone feel better.”
Surveys show that while in 2008 almost 90 percent of New Yorkers felt safe on the subway, last year only just under half of passengers felt safe. Many complain that they seem to be disturbing more and more mentally disturbed people or passengers under the influence of drugs or medication in the carriages. But disputes over loud music or smoking have recently turned violent.
Governor launches massive Security offensive
That’s not possible – not while she’s in office, says Governor Hochul. She launched a massive security offensive. Hochul promised to reactivate a thousand police and National Guard forces to carry out bag checks in the city’s largest train stations. The heavily uniformed people were supposed to search more intensively for weapons – knives, pistols, razors.
Convicted subway attackers should receive a three-year driving ban. There will be a file for repeat offenders and additional cameras in the cabs of the trains. And finally, there should be more trained teams that recognize people with acute mental problems and bring them to support facilities.
Split reaction
The passengers react dividedly. She thinks it would be better if the emergency services weren’t so visible, says a woman in the Grand Central subway station. One man, however, says: Any form of visible security is helpful. A passerby agrees: She feels safe on the train – “I only prefer to take a taxi late at night.”
The transport authority also wants to test new fare barriers soon. They are intended to prevent fare evaders from jumping over the turnstiles. Metal platform barriers are also intended to prevent passengers from falling onto the tracks.
Antje Passenheim, ARD New York, tagesschau, March 27, 2024 11:27 p.m