Given that ridership is at record highs, the MTA and police are proud that subway crime is down from a year ago, according to statistics obtained by the New York Post.
Overall, crime is down almost 13% due to a drop in rapes, robberies, and grand larceny. Murders doubled from two in 2006 to four last year. Assaults also increased, up 9% from the same period a year ago. This is likely attributed to increased policing and willingness to arrest people in the NYC Transit system (arrests were up 27%, to almost 34,000, in 2007). Potential crimes may also be deterred by heavily armed anti-terrorism police units patrolling subway stations and trains cars. For a comparison to what the subways were like twenty years ago, read this NY Times article from 1988.
The drop in crime below ground mirrors a general trend in decreased violence in the city. Murders hit the lowest point in New York City in more than four decades last year. Still, the police plan to double the amount of resources dedicated to Operation Impact, which concentrates large numbers of officers in crime-prone areas.
