NYC set to bolster police presence in the subway system in effort to crack down on transit crime
NEW YORK (CNN) — The Brooklyn borough president vowed Thursday that his office will work to ensure that New York City’s largest subway lines are safe.
And he said he wants to hire more police officers to patrol subway stations.
In a press release, Borough President Marty Markowitz said the city needs immediate attention given to the recent spate of subway shootings that have left one dead, two wounded, and another in police custody.
“It is time for the City of New York to take steps to ensure that the New York City subway — a key artery of the city’s economy and an important artery of our state’s economy — is as safe as possible,” he said.
“New York City’s subway system is New York’s most important infrastructure, and it must be treated as such.”
In the short term, the announcement means the borough’s mayor, as the city’s chief executive, would help coordinate boroughwide efforts to address the subway crime problem.
“We cannot address crime and create safe-for-officers conditions on the city’s subway system without effective collaboration between the police, first responders, elected officials and other agencies,” Markowitz said in his release.
The subway system has been plagued by problems and violence in recent years — from recent incidents in which the New York Police Department failed to arrest and prosecute a man involved in a fatal shooting, to the recent arrest of a transit worker who stole two subway cars and fled the subway system during a botched robbery attempt.
The latest incident occurred Wednesday night after two men were stabbed on the platform between the Queensboro Bridge and the George Washington Bridge. One suspect died of his wounds about an hour later, while another man remains in the hospital in critical condition, police said.
Shortly after Wednesday’s incident, the city’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg, ordered subway service restored for the evening rush hour.