Map shows transit crime in New York City amid increase in subway shootings
NEW YORK (WABC) -- While shootings have gone down above ground in New York City, they've actually increased underground in the city's transit system.
There have been more subway shooting victims so far this year compared to all of last year. Most of those victims were innocent bystanders involved in a subway platform shooting in the Bronx last month.
Plus, more gun arrests have been made in the subway. There have been 17 arrests so far this year, compared to eight during all of 2023.
The mayor sent out a tweet last week stating transit crime is down by 15%. That's true if you compare the month of February 2024 to the same month in 2023. But year to date, crime is actually up 13% compared to last year.
"It has been disturbing to see the subway crime go up," said Chris Herrmann, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice who studies crime. "The big red flag for the NYPD is we've surpassed the number of shootings in the subway system for all of 2023 and here we are it's only the beginning of March."
The 7 On Your Side Investigates team created a map that shows the locations of subway crime in the city. The areas in dark red show the spots with the most transit crimes.
The crimes that have increased the most aren't violent crimes. They're crimes like fare evading, narcotics and other misdemeanors.
"Millions of riders rode the subway yesterday," said NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry. "The Subway bureau, transit bureau took six crimes including the shooting, six out of millions and millions of people that boarded our subway system yesterday."
Crime analysts says the chances of being a victim of a crime on the subway remain low.
"It shouldn't really change the way people think, but again it should raise a red flag for obviously the police who are in charge of the subway and the MTA and should be something we are more aware of," said Herrmann.
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