NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The MTA has a new plan to spend $2.2 million per month on private security guards to patrol the city’s subway system, according to a report.
Days after the NYPD agreed to send hundreds of additional officers into the subway network amid a rise in violence and crimes, the Wall Street Journal reported the authority will also be hiring private security guards.
According to the report, the guard will tackle crime and quality of life issues in the city’s underground.
The Journal notes that the use of private security guards is not new, but until now it’s been rather limited.
The report says New York City Transit Interim President Sarah Feinberg confirmed the guards were hired early in the pandemic, when ridership plummeted, to address crime and security issues in near-deserted stations.
Their ranks swelled to 100, and by the end of this month, they are expected to have doubled to 200, according to the report.
“The cost for the guards is a small fraction of the authority’s annual $17 billion operating budget,” the paper reported.
Feinberg reportedly told the outlet that she did not want to “devote precious resources in the middle of a financial crisis to additional security contractors,” but added that she did not want customers and the MTA workforce to “feel uncomfortable and unsafe.”
The MTA has been complaining that Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYPD have not providing enough police officers as ridership remains more than 60% below normal and crime continues to increase.
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