Queens, NY – The subways of Queens are already seeing an uptick in crime – but they’re about to get scarier.
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An NYPD unit that patrols the borough’s trains at night is on the verge of closing, a move critics fear will make Queens subway travel still more dangerous.
The Queens Transit Task Force is to be shuttered on Jan. 5, with its 48 officers merged into the borough’s two Transit Districts.
The Task Force’s primary function has been to guard the subways at night while the two districts work in three eight-hour shifts over the entire day.
When asked if the number of officers protecting nighttime straphangers will remain the same despite the closing, NYPD Transit Chief James Hall said: “It’s actually going to go up. It’s certainly not going to go down.”
Others, though, were not so certain.
“Of course they say that it’ll be the same manpower that way, but that’s b.s.,” one police source said. “It’s the equivalent of closing a station house.”
Leery riders agreed.
“That’s stupid, we need safety in the subways,” said outraged Trisha Mondal, 18.
“I always feel more comfortable when police are around,” the Jamaica resident said at the Forest Hills-71st Avenue station.
Queens subway crime rose 6.2 percent this year, with 308 incidents through Dec. 21 as opposed to 290 incidents in the same period last year.
“This is terrible news,” City Councilman John Liu (D-Queens) said. “Combined with reductions in subway service and frequency this is possibly disastrous.”
“It’s a 1-2 punch for the late-night subway rider.”
The MTA voted on a budget last week to eliminate the W and Z lines and shorten the G and M lines, all of which run in Queens.
That came on the heels of the NYPD announcing it will only have 500 cadets in their January 2009 recruiting class, less than half of what they’ve had in the last few years, with the ominous promise of more budget cutbacks.
Chief Hall said the move was not related to budgetary concerns but rather to streamline the resources in the borough.
“This was totally an operational decision, budget didn’t factor into it,” he said.
“There are barely enough cops now and to cut them will be even worse,” fumed regular late-night rider William Samuel, 22.
“There are going to be more crimes, I’ve seen people grab chains off people and run,” the South Jamaica resident said aboard a Queens F-train.
Terrible news, I myself have witnessed crime on the trains, now imagine without police present and the bad economy causing people to behave absolutely irrational. Scary.
Its interesting that yesterday’s news story about cutting cops and having less crime seems to become less of a marvel. It seems now that cutting crime has become an economic decision. There is no money to make in keeping the streets safe so we will cut the patrol. Perhaps based on the quote “If you save one Jew it is as if you saved the whole world “this idea of cutting patrols back even when there is not money should be reconsidered.
this just after bloomberg made crime drop??
I guess all that is needed is a few more fake police cruisers
How bout announcing it publicly so the criminals know where to commit the crimes…
On the bright side, there is a much higher possibility that the criminal will have a ticket when he gets off the train.
Why on earth do we annoucne everything? How about sending e mails to the terrorists about when we patrol the subways and when we don’t.?
Don’t worry; the crime statistics are down.
It would be interesting to see how many of the commentators above live in Queens and ride the subway after hours????
I do & see very few Jews on the train (and they are usually the only white people too) – and I see very little crime. But when I do see a cop – they are just there to give people tickets for walking through the train cars.
Cops are probably more of a deterrent to crime, but the fact that they announce it, will only mean an increase in crime.