NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Mayor Eric Adams said Monday that subway turnstile jumpers should face criminal prosecution because "it's a crime."
"They need to, it’s a crime. It’s a crime," Adams, a former NYPD captain, said during a press conference in the Bronx.
Adams also argued that fare beaters, whom Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Brooklyn district attorneys have opted not to prosecute, have gone "ignored" and led to an increase in subway crime.
"If we start saying it’s alright for you to jump the turnstile, we are creating an environment where any and everything goes," he said. "It’s a crime. Now, you could defer prosecution, you could [put] people in programs, you could do all sorts of things, but let’s not ignore it, and that’s what’s happening to our subway system."
MTA board member Andrew Albert has also linked the practice to a spike in subway crime.
"99.99% of [the] people that are committing crimes in the subways did not pay their fare. If we can stop that at the turnstiles, we've not only helped the MTA bottom line, but we've stopped crime in its tracks," he said amid the fallout of the fatal subway shove of 40-year-old Michelle Alyssa Go.
Adams added Monday that allowing the practice to continue unabated sends the "wrong message."
"We allow people to jump over the turnstile and not pay their fare and not prosecute. We sent the wrong message," he said.
The mayor also announced Monday an increase in the NYPD's neighborhood safety teams, which have made 31 arrests in the six days since the program's launch.
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