MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber today addressed declines in subway crime during remarks given at an event announcing progress in enforcement of toll evasion at MTA bridges and tunnels. His comments on declines in subway crime are below:
“Subway crime was down again last week, and it’s also down substantially for the first half of this year. Down 7% in 2024 for the first 6 months compared to 2023, and it’s down 11% – subway crime is down 11% compared to pre-COVID. That’s right: 11% less than 2019. These are major, major steps forward. We said we were going to focus on subway crime and take a look New York, it is showing. We are not only knocking down the numbers of subway crime, but we’re also working with DAs from every borough. I think that we could really knock those numbers down even further if we start to put the recidivists out of the system. The people who get 5 to 10, to 20, to 50 arrests every year, and there are a lot of them, that are committing a disproportionate amount of the crime. So, we are working with the DAs to make sure that those people get special attention when they’re picked up – they don’t just cycle through the system and back out – that they are dealt with in a differential way that recognizes that they are chronic offenders.”
Official crime numbers from the NYPD are linked below: