50% jump in rail assaults
Felony assaults on the New York City transit system spiked more than 50% between February and March, reaching the highest total since the NYPD began increasing subway patrols 11 months ago, new data show.
Despite the troubling increase in assaults, subway crime overall was flat last month compared with February, according to NYPD data released Friday.
There were 180 felony crimes recorded on the subways in March — down two from February. But the number of felony assaults jumped from 41 in February to 62 in March, the stats show.
The figure reflects the highest number of felony assaults since May 2021, when a string of high-profile crimes spurred then-Mayor Bill de Blasio — at the MTA’s urging — to increase police patrols in the subway system.
That month saw 65 felony assaults — including a string of slashings committed by a single assailant in a 35-minute span on May 14.
Three days later, de Blasio relented to pressure from the MTA and agreed to add 125 cops to the morning and evening rush hours. Assaults dropped significantly the next month and had remained stable until now.
Mayor Adams has continued to increase the number of cops underground in response to high-profile crimes — most recently after the mass shooting in Brooklyn this month that left 10 people with gunshot wounds and another 19 injured in other ways.
The NYPD’s reported subway crime rates have remained stubbornly above prepandemic figures when adjusted for ridership, which currently stands at around 55% of what it was in 2019.
The number of felony crimes per million riders was just over two in March, a 13% drop compared with February but well above the 1.47 crimes per million riders in 2019.