NEW YORK — Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced a plan to add 500 police officers to Metropolitan Transportation Authority subway stations and bus routes in an effort to stem fare evasion and transit violence.
In a Monday press conference, Cuomo said 200 New York police officers, 200 MTA officers, and 100 bridge and tunnels officers would be reassigned to the effort, the New York Post reported. Fare evasion cost the MTA an estimated $240 million between March 2018 and March 2019.
Police will be sent to 50 subway stations and 50 bus routes. Some MTA officers will be moved from transit hubs to outlying stations where fare evasion and violence are worse, with state police filling in at sites such as Penn Station and Grand Central. The NYPD contingent will include new hires and reassigned officers, with some officers being taken off desk duty to offset the loss of beat cops. The bridge and tunnel officers can be reassigned because of automatic tolling, Cuomo said.
Many years ago, NYPD had 43,000+ officers. Now, down to 35,000. Yet the city has gained population. So you pull an additional 200 off the streets to enforce criminal behavior. Makes sense. And, as Robert McGuire stated, this will be short-lived due to a racism charge. You have gangs, mostly of the black persuasion, roaming the streets and subway stations. They target the elderly, the woman travelling alone, et al, for their robbing and assaults. Pathetic creatures. Bring back Charles Bronson.
This will accomplish absolutely zero. As soon as someone is arrested for fare evasion there will be shouts of racism and that will be the end of increased enforcement. You can pretty much do whatever you want on the Metro in DC these days. The only ticketable offense is smoking.
That shoulda happened a looong time ago, Chicago been doin that since late 80z, We aint second city to that, AND reassigning leaves the spot they just left weaker, DUH!! Put it on a Billboard dumbass