Mayor Eric Adams said that he is stepping up efforts to combat crime in the city’s subway system by sending 1,000 extra cops as well as teams of health professionals to address the city’s endemic homelessness.
On Friday, Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul introduced the new Subway Safety Plan project. Hochul announced that the state would supply 600 additional psychiatric beds and another 500 beds to municipal shelters to support individuals presently living in the subways, many of whom suffer from serious mental illness.
Mayor Eric Adams Is Disappointed With The Living Conditions Of The Homeless
It comes after a string of horrible incidents in New York City, including the January killing of Michelle Go, a Deloitte advertising executive, who was thrown in front of a train in an unprovoked attack at Times Square Station.
Eric Adams said 30 teams of service and health professionals will be dispatched to work with cops at the subway, and the state will invest $9 million per year in recruiting psychiatrists and nurses. The proposal comes after a homeless man stabbed a breakdancer yesterday and in the aftermath of Michelle Go‘s murder. Cops will be deployed on the A, E, 1, 2, N, and R lines, and service personnel will be part of ‘End of the Line’ teams with officers to ensure trains are emptied at their last stops, according to Adams.
The cops are instructed to enforce rules against laying down, sleeping, outstretching, trash, drug use, and hostile behavior against passengers, while the health professionals are there to assist the mentally ill and refer them to the city’s support services. Kendra’s Law, enacted in 1999 and allowing judges to order outpatient care for mentally ill persons, would be expanded as part of the proposal.
Advocates for the homeless are concerned that the project will be used to target a vulnerable demographic.
