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New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced Friday a plan to dispatch teams composed of outreach workers, cops and mental health experts to combat homelessness and rampant crime in the subways.
He called the transit system “the lifeblood of our city” and recalled when the subways were most dangerous in the 1980s when people could not commute safely.
“Many of us feel, and the numbers are saying, we are back again, and it’s imperative we have the right response,” Adams told reporters at the Fulton Transit Center near City Hall in Lower Manhattan flanked by Gov. Kathy Hochul and other officials. “We are going to ensure that fear is not New York’s reality.”
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His administration’s “Subway Safety Plan” will deploy 30 joint response teams to do direct outreach for the homeless and those suffering from mental illness in the subways, according to a press release.
Michelle Go, left, and Simon Martial , right, after he was apprehended for her murder.
(LinkedIn, WNYW)
Adams said that police officers will be trained to enforce transit rules that bar passengers from sleeping across multiple seats, exhibiting aggressive behavior and creating unsanitary conditions. He also said all passengers will be required to exit the station when a train reaches the end of a line.
The plan includes an expansion of services for the homeless and those suffering from mental illness.
Model Bew Jirajariywetch was robbed and assaulted on the subway in November by alleged suspect Kevin Douglas.
“It is cruel and inhumane to allow unhoused people to live on the subway, and unfair to paying passengers and transit workers who deserve a clean, orderly and safe environment,” Adams said at the press conference one day after a man was stabbed in an unprovoked attack on the L train in Manhattan. “The days of turning a blind eye to this growing problem are over.”
The City and MTA began recruiting Department of Health nurses who work in public schools to participate in the program, according to the New York Post, which was the first to report on the mayor’s initiative.
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The outreach teams, who undergo special training, will begin their work Feb. 2.
The initiative comes after Michelle Go, 40, was shoved in front of an R train in Times Square on Jan. 15. Simon Martial, 61, who is homeless and mentally ill, has been charged with second-degree murder for her senseless slaying. The next day, Adams insisted that the subways are safe but later backtracked on those statements.
Earlier this month, a man allegedly tried to rape a 21-year-old woman in broad daylight on a train in Lower Manhattan.
Model Bew Jirajariywetch was robbed and assaulted on the subway in November by alleged suspect Kevin Douglas.
An NYPD detective told Fox News Digital that the plan is ill-conceived. “We don’t have enough manpower to do this,” he said. “The subways are too big and there aren’t enough cops.”
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He added that it puts police in the position of providing security for clinicians. “Now the officer has to worry not only about himself but the safety of the outreach workers with them,” he said.
