NYC subway crackdown starts with 143 arrests, 1,500 tickets
New York City police arrested 143 people in the city’s subways and removed 455 people from trains and stations in the first week of a crackdown on crime and the presence of homeless people in the transit system.
Mayor Eric Adams’ office said the arrests and removals came as officers were enforcing subway rules barring smoking, drinking, sleeping across train seats, behaving aggressively and riding without paying fares. Officers also issued 1,553 tickets for rule violations.
Adams, a Democrat who took office earlier this year, announced in February an aggressive effort to make the subways feel safer by sending teams of officers into stations and trains, along with social workers to connect homeless people with shelters, food banks and other services.