NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) — Mayor Eric Adams and the NYPD released crime statistics for the first quarter of 2024 on Wednesday and held a public safety briefing, which reflect significant dips in overall crime in the transit system March-to-March 2023, but less impactful changes when compared quarter-to-quarter from last year.
There has been a 23.5% decrease in overall crime in the transit system when comparing March 2023 to March 2024, a differential that Adams and police officials directly attributed to the deployment of over 1,000 additional uniformed officers into the network each day. This follows a 15% decrease when comparing February 2023 to February 2024.
A release of the statistics by the NYPD also made a point of acknowledging the deployment of another 800 officers into the subway system as a part of “Operation Fare Play,” an initiative focused on cracking down on fare evasion.
Arrests in the subway are up almost 53% when compared to last year, with statistics showing 3,147 arrests in 2023 and 4,813 arrests in 2024, which includes spikes in gun arrests (12 vs. 22), fare-evasion arrests (1,038 vs. 1,864) and grand larceny arrests (87 vs. 108).
“There cannot be a sense of lawlessness in the subway system, and it begins at the turnstiles,” Police Commissioner Edward Caban said. “It is highly encouraging to see the tangible results of our hard work—the investment we are making is clearly paying dividends."
However, when comparing the first quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of 2024, overall crime has decreased only 1.1% in the transit system, from 544 incidents to 538.
“Millions of New Yorkers depend on mass transit. The system needs to be safe—and feel safe—for them, and thanks to increased deployments from Mayor Adams and smart policing from Commissioner Caban and the NYPD, 2024 subway crime is now below 2023 levels, and even lower than pre-pandemic,” MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said in response to Wednesday’s briefing.
Citywide, when comparing quarter one of 2023 with quarter one of 2024, overall crime is down 2.4% across the seven major crime categories (murder, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, grand larceny and grand larceny auto). This reflects 711 less incidents, decreasing from 29,278 in 2023 to 28,668 in 2024.
“We know the biggest challenge that we are facing, I say over and over again, is three areas: recidivism, recidivism, recidivism,” Adams said at the briefing. “There are too many bad people who are doing bad things to good people of this city, and they believe they have the right to do that.”
The mayor also acknowledged the mental health crisis plaguing the city, and the impact it has on crime.
“Severe mental health illness. We’re seeing it on our streets, we’re seeing a correlation between some of the actions that are taking place and how it’s impacting those who need assistance,” Adams said.