Thursday, December 22, 2011

Crime up under ground


From the Daily News:

The number of cops patrolling the subways has dropped while crime underground has risen sharply, officials revealed Monday.

The NYPD Transit Bureau head count is down nearly 10% this year compared with 2010. At the same time, subway crime — fueled by thieves targeting iPhones and other electronics — has surged nearly 18%, according to police stats released at an MTA committee hearing.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

When the Transit Police were a a seperate entity,they were a force of about 4000.After the merge to nypd,the ranks were about 3500.Today you have a much younger depleted force of about 1900.Very few of the original pre-merge transit guys left...........

Anonymous said...

I travel the subways and am witness to the gross stupidity of many riders.
They stand or sit near the doors while listening to their iPods with their eyes closed.
They stand or sit near the doors while reading their Kindles.
They stand or sit near the doors while texting and talking on their expensive phones.
They stand or sit near the doors with their handbags or backpacks open and/or unattended.
They stand or sit near the doors while adorned with expensive jewelry.
They stand or sit near the doors without having their brains in gear.

A suggestion to transit riders...get some street smarts.

Anonymous said...

Can't arrest people. Clogs the jails and becomes a "civil rights" issue, right?

Anonymous said...

"...a "civil rights" issue, right?"

Last year at Christmas time I was on the 7 platform at 5th Ave. The door to a crowded car opened and a guy stepped out to let the passengers exit. A girl was by the door with buds in her ears and an Ipod in her hand. A black guy grabbed her pod and the guys who stepped out of the train grabbed the black dude.
The girl and the guy were undercover cops.
Bingo! A robber got nailed.
Then a bunch of people on the train and the platform started to yell claiming the cop was too rough whle apprehending the robber and they started to chant 'Police Brutality'.
Stealing as a civil right.

Anonymous said...

What Anonymous 2 said. I've lived my whole life in this city and never committed a crime but even I get tempted when I see some drunk hipster flapping around his ipad near the door of the train late at night. Even though I can afford an ipad 10 times over these days I still only carry around a 30 dollar mp3 player in my pocket and hide all the wires under my clothes when I go underground. Memories of the late 80s die hard.

Anonymous said...

I agree I see these hipsters and transplants using these I pads right out in the open, in the doorways, antennas on backpacks on the A, L train's as if they are begging to get robbed.

They are so involved playing games and stupid things the miss stops, end up in the Bronx, Brooklyn etc. Its pure stupidity ! These jerks deserve to get their stuff stolen !!

Anonymous said...

Transit police from years ago was the worst Police force around. They didn't talk or respond to calls to NYPD - at now they are merged.

Like other readers report - folks have their device giant laptops, Iphones etc in plain view where next to doors are easy targets. These are the gold chains of 30 years ago is all. These idiots should get some street smarts after they deservedly get ripped off!

Anonymous said...

Do we really need a transit bureau in the Police Department. If the police are on a foot post in one station, what is to stop a crime occurring in another station? And if they have to respond, they have to wait for the trains like everyone else. As far as crimes on the trains go, unless you put a cop on every train car in the city, there is no effective deterrent. Even a cop on a particular train cannot stop what is happening on the cars that he/she is on. With the exception of plainclothes units and certain other specialized units, they should move all the transit cops to the street, where they can be more effectively deployed.

Anonymous said...

An arrest is just the cost of doing business. It isn't until there's more of these thieves in jail for a few months that crime like this is deterred.

Anonymous said...

Even worse than the "stupid" people "flaunting" their electronic devices are the idiots stealing them and thereby committing a crime.

Anonymous said...

Equally as daunting are the stations with nobody in the token booths. Frightening and illogical, especially in tourist areas, i.e. 44th Street & 8th Avenue watching tourists staring blankly at maps, or 53rd Street on the 3rd Avenue side of the Lexington Ave Station not understanding why they can't connect to the 6.

Anonymous said...

The MTA has dilligently posted signs saying 'if you see something, say something'. To whom?