Adams’ year-old ‘subway safety plan’ kicked off after NYPD surge: data

Sometimes you just have to go with the basics.

Mayor Eric Adams’ one-year-old subway security plan only began to bear fruit after City Hall flooded the system with overtime cops five months ago, Post analysis shows.

City and state officials announced the plan in October as crime statistics showed major crime was 40 percent above 2021 levels and the subway system saw its ninth homicide in a year, the highest in decades.

In January, three months after the surge, serious criminal offenses were down 30 percent compared to the same month in 2022, despite the fact that the number of passengers increased from about 2.1 million to 3.1 million passengers per day..

Crime statistics obtained by The Post show that the decline in crime continued in February as the NYPD recorded 170 major subway crimes this month. That’s less than 180 major crimes in the same time period in 2022, even with a million extra riders.

“At first, the conversation was about the fact that we need crisis teams, not cops. Then crime increased because the program was an absolute failure,” said one of the law enforcement veterans. “Now the money Albany gave us is being used to pay overtime to pay more cops on the subway.”

The person added, “It’s like an episode of The Twilight Zone.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul, who was in a tough race for re-election in October, agreed to pay overtime for the NYPD to increase patrols and also ordered the MTA to redeploy its own police force to bolster its presence at major commuter rail stations in the city. to release more city cops.

The NYPD surge comes eight months after Adams and Hochul unveiled the first version of the Subway Safety Plan at a February press conference at the Fulton Street subway junction in Lower Manhattan.

The introduction followed many high-profile subway attacks, including the death of Michelle Goh, which made national headlines.

One of the biggest proposals laid out in the grand plan was the city’s effort to deploy 30 new teams of police, social workers and nurses underground to work with homeless New Yorkers living in train stations and on trains.

Almost half of the new teams, 12 people, will ride on rails.

However, documents obtained by The Post show that the in-flight information program was quietly wound down on April 11, just two months later.

“As of April 11, the Subway Safety initiative has been terminated,” reads a summary of the program’s statistics, which was sent to Department of Homeless Affairs Commissioner Gary Jenkins and obtained by The Post in accordance with freedom of information. Law.

“We are still reporting this initiative below because there are still clients placed under this initiative in their [homeless shelter] accommodation”.

It does not appear that the City has ever publicly stated that they have abandoned extensive outreach on board.

However, Hizzoner has continued touting the subway’s safety plan in interviews over the past months, including this week’s interview with WABC-TV/Ch. 7.

“Last year, Governor Kathy Hochul and I announced a subway safety plan in which we pledged more resources to help the homeless and those facing a mental health crisis get the shelter and help they need,” the mayor said in a released statement. Tuesday.

“We knew it would take time to earn the trust of this vulnerable population and I am proud that in one year of this work, we have successfully provided the shelter and assistance they deserve to over 4,000 homeless people,” he added.

In a statement, the mayor’s office acknowledged that groups originally intended to work on trains have been moved to work on platforms and stations.

“In embarking on this work, we have paid close attention to what works and redoubled our efforts on successful strategies to most effectively help New Yorkers in need and make the most effective use of taxpayer dollars,” said Adams spokeswoman Kate Smart.

“All of the collaborative teams we announced are still running the metro system and the customer experience efforts announced as part of the original plan have been very successful.”