PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Despite several recent homicides, SEPTA says serious crime is down by 45% compared to the first quarter of 2023.
SEPTA's first quarter 2024 statistics show that aggravated assaults were down from 32 to 24, and robberies dropped from 102 to 34.
Over one week in March, though, there were three fatal shootings and one that injured eight Northeast High students at a bus stop.
SEPTA Police Chief Chuck Lawson says that's a reflection of overall gun violence in the city.
"We don't think that SEPTA, our property, was a target in that. In fact, I think largely we're a victim or one of the victims in those mass shooting incidents," Lawson said.
Lawson says because of beefed-up recruitment, SEPTA now has 230 transit police officers on duty, the highest number in years.
He said those officers have been writing more citations for quality of life crimes like smoking and drug use.
More than 47,000 so-called "code of conduct" tickets were written in the first quarter of this year, up from nearly 35,000 last year.
Lawson says riders' complaints help SEPTA police target where officers are needed most.
"Every time that they make a report on our app or tell us of a situation that makes them not feel safe on the system, we're using that information to deploy our police."
Ridership has rebounded to 70% of pre-pandemic levels and Lawson says more eyes and ears on the system are also helping reduce serious crime. He says he expects the downward trend to continue.
"We've been tracking this pretty closely since January of last year, and it is significantly down and steadily dropping with very few peaks in between," he said.