NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Transit riders are being warned to stay alert for "lush workers" who target and rob passengers late at night as they sleep, according to NYPD brass on Wednesday.
According to data released last week, overall subway crimes are down this year and one-third of grand larcenies reported are believed to have been committed by lush workers, NYPD Transit Chief Kathleen O'Reilly said during a news conference.
Lush workers are known to steal from sleeping people who are likely drunk late at night.
"We term them lush workers because they do make their living out of this," O'Reilly said.
According to the NYPD Transit Bureau, there were 485 grand larcenies reported in the subway during the first nine months of 2021, a 22 percent decrease from the 627 grand larcenies reported during the same time period in 2020.
"We caution the ridership to remain alert when you ride the train and pay attention to your property," she added. "We wake up hundreds of passengers every night on trains."
Authorities keep a list of known lush workers, according to NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea.
"This is a cat and mouse game that goes on historically," Shea said. "It's not a large amount of people doing this, but they are very good at their craft. The difficult part is keeping them in jail."
