Transit crime is back as a top concern in some US cities, and political leaders have taken notice
Fear of crime on subways and buses is back as a top concern in some big U.S. cities, and so are efforts aimed at persuading the public that officials are taking the issue seriously
NEW YORK — Fear of crime on subways and buses is back as a top concern in some U.S. cities, and so are efforts to persuade public officials to take the issue seriously.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday she would task 750 members of the National Guard with helping patrol the nation’s busiest subway system, saying she felt New York City police need reinforcements after a shooting on a train platform and a conductor getting slashed in the neck.
Pennsylvania legislators created a special prosecutor to go after crimes committed in the transit system that serves the southeast of the state. In Philadelphia, where a spate of transit-related shootings left three dead and 12 wounded, many of them high schoolers, Mayor Cherelle Parker also promised Thursday to beef up police patrols.
“Enough is enough,” she said on WURD radio.
It remains to be seen whether such moves will have any effect on reducing crime in these massive public transit systems.
Hochul acknowledged that calling in the National Guard was as much about soothing fears and making a political statement as it was about making mass transit safer. The city’s subways were already safe, the Democrat reasoned, but a show of force might help dispel anxieties more than any statistic.
“If you feel better walking past someone in a uniform to make sure that someone doesn’t bring a knife or a gun on the subway, then that’s exactly why I did it,” Hochul said Thursday on MSNBC. “I want to change the psychology around crime in New York City.”
“I’m also going to demonstrate that Democrats fight
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