While violence in New York City continues to be a source of tension and concern among leaders, a source within the city’s police department recently shared that the crime statistics of the city are “a complete joke” and fail to shed light on the dire situation.
An anonymous source with the New York Police Department (NYPD) told The Epoch Times in an interview that the actual numbers of criminal acts that occur in the city’s subway system are “significantly higher” than statistics that have been shared with the public.
According to the source, the 45% increase in subway arrests that was announced in NYPD Transit Bureau reports is only a fraction of the real issue at hand. The source likened the New York City subway system violence and crime to “the Wild West.” Police officers have even been encouraged to avoid reporting small offenses to keep the public under the impression that crime rates are leveling out.
The source said that there is a “significant majority” of subway crimes that are not reported by victims, due to the fact that they “understand” most of the perpetrators of thefts or attacks “are never going to be apprehended.”
The crime and violence coincides with a steady decline in NYPD officer morale. Attacks on New York residents—including law enforcement officials on and off duty—has spiked in recent years. The uptick in crime has also seen a significant number of resignations among cops. In 2023 alone, 2,516 officers resigned.
The Epoch Times report based on the testimony of the anonymous source comes four weeks after violent crime in New York City subway stations was increasing and garnering attention from local news outlets. According to a Feb. 20 report from Fox 5 New York, the most common crimes seen in stations were thefts and robberies.
However, brutal stabbings and attacks had also been reported, sparking the NYPD to dispatch over 1,000 additional officers to patrol the subway each day.
On March 6, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) ordered the National Guard to be deployed in the subway system in an effort to protect residents from the rising crime. She deployed a total of 750 members of the Guard along with 250 officers from the state and Metropolitan Transportation Authority to combat the issue. In addition to monitoring and responding to incidents, the law enforcement officials were instructed to conduct bag checks and other services such as managing mentally ill individuals in the stations.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has deployed the National Guard to patrol the NYC subway to combat crime. 750 guardsmen, 250 NY State and MTA cops will perform bag checks and additional tasks including dealing with the mentally ill. pic.twitter.com/arFHEsLKd1
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) March 6, 2024
