NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – During a subway walkthrough attended by 1010 WINS on Tuesday, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell promised more police officers in the transit system after a “challenging few weeks” that saw multiple fatal attacks and other assaults.
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“We have to be safe, and I know it’s our responsibility in the NYPD to keep people safe,” the commissioner said.
Sewell began her walkthrough at the Lexington Avenue/51st Street station in Midtown, where a 17-year-old was stabbed six times on Saturday. She and NYPD Transit Chief Jason Wilcox took a 6 train to Grand Central Terminal.
The commissioner said she’s been listening to New Yorkers who’ve told her what they want to feel safe while riding the trains.
“People are telling us they want to see their police department, they want to see members in the subway,” Sewell said.
The commissioner’s walkthrough followed a number of assaults in the subway system in the past couple of weeks, two of them fatal, including a man who was randomly stabbed to death on a busy Bronx platform last week and a union steamfitter who was fatally slashed on a Brooklyn train the week before. A third man was also stabbed to death on an MTA bus in the Bronx on Sunday.
There have also been numerous assaults in the subway in recent days, many of them unprovoked. Among them was a man who was slashed and pepper-sprayed in Midtown early Wednesday, a woman who was bashed over the head in Harlem on Monday and a man who was shoved onto the tracks as he waited for a train at Union Square last Wednesday.
“We have had a challenging few weeks, but we are repeatedly doing train coverage, we’re increasing the lines where we’re going to see more officers,” Sewell said.
The commissioner said the NYPD has identified 15 lines and 20 stations in need of help. She said more officers are heading their way.
“Obviously we’re concerned about the safety of New Yorkers.
The subway has to be safe,” she said.
Responding to the string of assaults, Wilcox, the NYPD transit chief, said the department's “detectives are very keyed in, we’re relentless on this.”
“We literally have done hundreds of thousands of train runs this year and that is not going to stop,” he said.
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