With subway crime still rising, serious enforcement is the only answer

The MTA and NYPD must implement the brand new Code of Conduct which incorporates fines for farebeating and different violations.
Stephen Yang for the New York Submit

Subway crime continues to be headed the incorrect manner, and it may worsen if the MTA and NYPD don’t implement the official Code of Conduct.

As Monday’s Submit reported, felonies within the subways are up 40% this yr by October over the identical interval final yr. And, no, that’s not simply because riders are returning: Violent crime (together with three murders) was up 45% final month over October 2019.

Sure, it’s nice that Gov. Kathy Hochul has the state funding NYPD extra time to place extra cops within the transit system — however that’s a stopgap measure, since OT is inherently restricted.

Plus, the subway crime wave is a part of total hovering metropolis crime, which NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell warned once more on Monday is spurred by the state’s botched criminal-justice reforms.

Then once more, an earlier “reform” additionally plagues the subways: then-District Legal professional Cy Vance’s 2018 choice to cease prosecuting most farebeating circumstances, a coverage later adopted by different DAs. As we warned then and since, this opened the door to far better lawlessness underground: When you break the principles to enter the system, you’re more likely to break greater guidelines inside it.

Fortunately, the new MTA Code of Conduct — absolutely endorsed by Mayor Eric Adams — contains unbiased fines for farebeating in addition to for lingering over an hour in stations and different trademark vagrant conduct. New Yorkers want cops on transit obligation imposing these guidelines relentlessly, or the subways are all too more likely to flip much more harmful.