NYPD Transit chief pledges more cops on trains, platforms

Uniformed officers on prepare patrols would be the “basis” of the division’s effort to maintain mass transit riders protected, the brand new head of the NYPD Transit Bureau stated Monday.

Chatting with MTA board members on his first day on the job, Transit Chief Jason Wilcox stated “excessive visibility” is vital to assuaging rider fears within the aftermath of the tragic subway shove homicide of Michelle Go earlier this month.

“Absolutely the basis of what we’re going to be pushing out is uniformed prepare patrols. Excessive visibility,” Wilcox defined to reporters after his presentation. “We would like the riders, New Yorkers, people who come right here, work right here, go to the varsity right here, to see our officers, to really feel safer. We’re decided to make that occur.”

“They are going to be on the trains. They are going to be on the trains, they are going to be on the platforms, they are going to be transferring round Saturday evening, Monday evening, each evening, daily,” he stated of the NYPD’s presence within the subways. “You will notice them. They are going to be there to guard you. They are going to be there to make you are feeling safer, and we're decided in that effort.”

Transit Chief Jason Wilcox desires extra officers in subway stations to permit a cushty expertise for commuters.

AP

Main crimes on mass transit had been decrease in 2021 than in 2019.

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It’s not clear how Wilcox’s plan differs from what Mayor Eric Adams and the NYPD have already promised. His language echoed MTA Chair Janno Lieber, who has continuously highlighted police visibility as a lacking piece of the NYPD’s subway crime response.

“We'd like cops on platforms. We'd like cops on trains,” Lieber stated on Monday. “These are the locations that individuals are feeling weak, and they're weak.”

The brand new transit chief most not too long ago served as an assistant chief within the NYPD Detective Bureau, however beforehand oversaw Manhattan’s transit police from 2006 to 2013.

Transit Chief Jason Wilcox desires officers to be current in each nook of the subway stations, to lower rising crime charges.

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An NYPD officer talks to a commuter whereas they look ahead to the following subway.

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On Monday, Wilcox famous that the full variety of main crimes on mass transit was a lot decrease in 2021 than in 2019, however acknowledged a troubling rise in felony assaults.

“A couple of third of these contain reducing devices,” he stated. “Clearly that’s one thing we’re going to be trying very arduous at.”