NYPD’s top cop rides subway with camera crew amid spike in transit violence

NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell rode the subway one whole stop with cameras in tow this week — in a bid to show New Yorkers they’re “safe in the transit system” amid the highest murder rates seen in 25 years underground.

Camera crews from select outlets — WABC, AM New York and 1010 WINS — were invited along for the short field trip, which took place at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

“I learned we have more to do, and we’re here to do it,” the rookie commissioner told WABC after taking the No. 6 train one stop to Grand Central Station from the East 53rd Street-Lexington Avenue station.

The top cop also toured that same station where a 17-year-old was hunted down and stabbed over the weekend before hopping on the train for the brief ride with NYPD Chief of Transit Jason Wilcox. 

“We have had a challenging few weeks, but we are repeatedly doing train coverage, we’re increasing the lines where we’re going to see more officers,” she told WABC.

On Wednesday, the NYPD tweeted about Sewell’s rare public appearance, saying, “Last night, @NYPDPC & @NYPDTransit Chief Wilcox were on the subway, checking in with straphangers.

“With a clear message, they want people to know and feel they are safe in the transit system.”

In January, Mayor Eric Adams and the NYPD celebrated the start of their “subway safety plan” – an initiative that seeks to reduce violent crime underground by cracking down on quality of life offenses and getting homeless people indoors. 

Since the program’s inception, which includes flooding the system with 1,000 extra cops a day, officers have gone on more than 270,000 train runs and inspected stations more than 750,000 times. But 10 months in, there’s little to show from the efforts. 

Overall, major crime on the subways is up 42% so far this year compared to the same time period in 2021 and there’s already been seven murders, a near 17% increase that already reached a 25-year high the year before, data show. 

While crime underground is 5% lower so far this year compared to 2019, straphangers are 53% more likely to be the victim of a felony crime these days than they were prior to the pandemic when lower ridership numbers are taken into account, NYPD and MTA data shows.

To fight back against a problem NYPD brass insist is more perception than reality, Sewell has partnered with the MTA to record two safety announcements that’ll be played at 400 stations through the end of October so commuters can at least “feel” safe while they’re riding the rails, she has said.

“Hello, I’m NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell. We have increased officers on trains and platforms so that you can ride safely, knowing that we are here to help,” one of the announcements states. 

“If you see something, say something.”

Straphangers who rely on the subway system to get around each day scoffed at the safety announcements and said Sewell’s one-stop stunt doesn’t doesn’t come close to the reality of daily commuting. 

“It’s bulls–t. One stop? I take the trains all day long. The chances of me being hurt are great because I take them,” Denise Decurtis, a nurse and lifelong New Yorker railed to The Post Wednesday as she waited for the uptown A train at Columbus Circle. 

“She needs to ride all day … Tell her to go to the West 4th Street station. That’s the worst.” 

Roxanne Reid, a 30-year-old cashier who lives in Cypress Hills, laughed when she heard about the excursion. 

“I don’t think it’s long enough to get the experience we get on a daily basis,” Reid said at the Times Square A, C, E platform, adding she only recently started taking the subway again. 

“I don’t feel safe like I used to. Before I was on my phone and now I’m not … It’s a lack of trust for humanity at this point.”

Kim Ramirez, an office cleaner who lives in Harlem, said she recently started traveling with Mace after a man followed her at the Bedford Avenue L train station in Brooklyn three months ago. 

“She wants us New Yorkers to say we got her back. No, she gotta do more,” Ramirez said of the safety announcements. 

“Every second I’m turning around … I’m a mother. I don’t want to die at age 36. It’s very scary.”