Despite uptick in crime, officials say New York subway is world's safest
An elderly woman is in stable condition after she was slashed on the face while riding a subway train in Manhattan on Monday,聽police say.聽
A southbound 6 train was approaching Bleecker Street around 7:15 a.m., when a man sitting across from the woman got up and slashed the left side of her face with an unknown object, according to the New York Police Department. The subject fled and is being sought by police.
Though the incident shines a spotlight on a rise in subway violence, as well as a 19 percent increase in violence across the city, city officials say聽the .
鈥淚 think the NYPD has done something extraordinary over the last two decades in bringing down subway crime,鈥� said New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio聽at a November 2015 event. 鈥淲hat we used to experience in the subways was mayhem,鈥� he said.
Mayor de Blasio pointed out that the typical subway crime today is theft of electronics.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 not a minor matter, but it鈥檚 not at all what we used to experience in the subways,鈥� he said.
According to figures reported this summer by local news station ABC 7, felony assaults on the New York subway jumped from 78 in 2014 to 99 in 2015, a .
But overall, crime is very low, especially when considering the tremendous growth in ridership. In 1994, there were 3.5 million subway riders and 23 crimes a day. Today there are six crimes a day, with nearly double the number of passengers, which on same days exceeds 6 million.
NYPD Transit Bureau Chief Joseph Fox called the city鈥檚 subway, 鈥渙ne of the safest systems in the world.鈥�
It鈥檚 a system that has reached its highest level of ridership in more than 65 years. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said that more than 1.7 billion people rode the subway in 2014, a 2.6 percent increase from 2013. Figures released in the spring of 2015 showed that 5.6 million people rode the system on weekdays and nearly 6 million rode on weekend days.
鈥淣YPD is very focused on our subways,鈥� de Blasio said in November. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e getting at the bad guys, they鈥檙e keeping crime under control, and I have confidence they will do better with every passing month.鈥�
To stay safe on the subway, include not displaying money in public, holding on to pocketbook suspended from shoulder straps, and not dozing off on the train.
This report contains material from the Associated Press.
