Riders of the nation’s largest subway system will begin seeing New York City police officers on every night train starting Monday, as Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday a strategy to ease rider anxiety that has risen amid a series of horrific high-profile crimes.
“I’m not waiting,” Hochul said during a news conference. “On Monday you will start to see the increased presence on the night trains.”
The $77 million strategy will put 750 additional police officers on platforms and at stations and 300 more officers on night trains, Hochul said.
Police officers patrol the F train platform at Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station, December 26, 2024 in New York.
Yuki Iwamura/AP
“We have doubled the number of law enforcement personnel in the New York City subway system in one year,” Hochul said.
The governor said most of the crime committed in the subway system takes place during the night.
“There’s a lot of anxiety on these trains late at night. I want to quell that,” Hochul said.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul delivers the 2025 State of the State Address on January 14, 2025 in Albany, NY
Mike Groll/Office of the New York Governor via AP
The move comes even as New York Police Department statistics show that crime in the transit system is down 36% from this time last year.
But several high-profile attacks in the subway system have prompted riders to call on government leaders to address the problem.
On December 22, a woman sleeping on a stationary F train at Brooklyn’s Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station died after being set on fire. The suspect, Sebastian Zapeta, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, was arrested after a brief manhunt and charged with first- and second-degree murder and arson in the death of 57-year-old Debrina Kawam, who authorities said was homeless and originally from Toms River, New Jersey .
Zapeta has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
On Christmas Eve, a man allegedly used a knife to slash a man and a woman at Manhattan’s Grand Central subway station, police said. The suspect was charged on Wednesday with violence and threats.
The man was arrested on assault, reckless endangerment, menacing, harassment, disorderly conduct and weapons charges following the attack, which left a 42-year-old man with an injured wrist and a 26-year-old woman with a neck injury. said the police.
On New Year’s Eve, a 45-year-old man was pushed onto subway tracks in front of an incoming train at the West 18th Street station in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, according to police. The victim, Joseph Lynskey, survived the attack, which was caught on security video, and is expected to make a full recovery, police said.
The suspect in the subway, Kamel Hawkins, 23, was arrested and charged with attempted murder and assault. He has not yet entered a plea.
On Wednesday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced the charges against a 23-year-old man in the slashing attack that took place in December at the 50th Street subway station in Manhattan. Bragg alleged that the suspect, Orsen Reyes, stomped on a 48-year-old man’s head and slashed him with a knife. Reyes was indicted on charges of first-degree assault, three counts of second-degree assault and three counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
He has pleaded not guilty.
“New Yorkers deserve to be safe in our subway system, and we will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to combat transit crime,” Bragg said in a statement. “I hope the victim continues to heal from this horrific assault.”
Hochul’s move comes after she ordered New York National Guard troopers and New York State Police troopers to be deployed in the subway system to help riders feel safe. The deployment came after six people were shot, one fatally, at a Bronx subway station on February 13, 2024.
