"Subway crime in the New York City has jumped 30% in 2022 vs. one year ago, outpacing the 22% jump in major crimes across the city over the same period, Bloomberg reports, citing police data released this week.
The crime wave comes as an embarrassment to NYC Mayor Eric Adams (D) who deployed thousands of additional police patrols in the transit system in order to to reduce crime and put riders at ease.
"Once we stabilized that, we’re going to right-size," said Adams during a Thursday briefing, discussing the need to reduce the police force once crime is lower. "You’re going to see a normalizing of the number of people who are there."
The New York City Police Department is spending an additional $20 million per month on overtime costs on top of regular levels, which pushed its overtime spending to $272 million through November. That’s more than 70% of the annual overtime budget for the fiscal year that ends June 30, according to New York City Comptroller Brad Lander’s office. -Bloomberg
The rise in spending on the police comes as Adams grapples with critics who say the city isn't doing enough to tackle crime within the transit system. Ridership, meanwhile, has to 60% of 2019 levels."
