Chair Feliz on subway felony assault increase and police deployment

Okay, so you said 27% increase in felony assault in our subways?

Yes.

Can you provide some raw numbers on that?

So to put that into perspective, it's 435 victims versus 397 is plus 38.

Okay.

Talk to us about police deployment in our subways.

I know during 2024 and 2025, we saw a massive deployment and a big, drastic police presence in our subways.

Did that help bring, and we saw results, crime went down.

Are those cops still in our subways, or were they transferred to other parts?

I know some of it was state funding, overtime funding.

I'm just going to say our strategy right now is placing the cops on the platform and on the trains, because that's just by the data.

We're a data-driven agency, and that's particularly in transit.

Transit is a different way of policing than we do in the street.

So we're placing them on the trains and on the platforms, because 75% of the crime is happening there.

And if you think about it, the train and the platform, it's really synonymous.

The train has to come onto the platform.

So people getting on, getting off, they're going to see that cop.

And, you know, it's hard to quantify how much crime that's deterring, but it certainly is.

How does the NYPD distinguish between crime and crime?

I'm occurring on the subways versus in or around the subway stations, but not considered part of the subway crime.

So when we look at subway crime and crime in general, we'll look at the data, we'll look at where it's happening, and on a complaint report or on a report, it could say actions prior to coming from transit.

Going to transit, even though the crime didn't happen in the transit system, the transit commanding officer who is in touch with his respective precinct commander can talk about it.

Hey, we have people leaving the train at Union Square Station, and when they're going upstairs to the park, they're getting victim of a robbery or a grand larceny.

Let's work together.

Let's do a joint operation.

Let's put our teams in place and work together to find out who's doing this and put it out.

Put the fire out.

Right.

And for purposes of data, though, related to subway crime, what's considered a subway crime?

Is it anything beyond the entrance of the subway versus fully entering the subway?

Is it anything on the stairway leading down into the system, on the train, on the platform, in the mezzanine?

Some of these stations are so vast, like if you look at a station like Union Square, it goes from 14th Street all the way up to 18th Street.

It's a massive complex.

And there's Times Square and 125th Street.

So some of these stations, you can't just say cops assigned to that station.

You've got to put them where you need them.

If the crime's happening on the stairwell, we'll put them there.

If it's happening on the train or the platform, we'll put them there.

Got it.