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NYPD: Assaults on police officers, fare evasion arrests are up

Assaults on police officers in the subway exploded during the first three months of the year
Assaults on police officers in the subway exploded during the first three months of the year Photo Credit: Gooding & Company / Mathieu Heurtault

Assaults on police officers in the subway exploded during the first three months of the year, according to NYPD statistics.

There were 19 assaults on cops from January to March, a huge jump from the 5 that occurred last year. These assaults made up more than a quarter of all transit felony assaults.

“In each of these cases, these were police transit bureau officers doing the right thing at the right time at the right place,” said NYPD Transit Chief Joseph Fox. “We can’t explain why people behave badly, especially to a uniformed police officer.”

There were 74 felony assaults through March, a 64.4% increase from the same time period last year when there were 45.

Of those, 21 were slashings or stabbings — three of which were part of an attempted robbery, Fox said. There have been arrests on 10 of these incidents, he said.

The department is also focusing energy on catching fare evaders, which they say can lead to arrests on more violent crime. The practice goes hand-in-hand with the NYPD’s “broken windows” style policing, in which officers go after quality of life crimes.

There were 6,217 arrests for fare evasion, or theft of services, in the first three months of the year. That is a 16.7% increase from the same time period last year when there were only 5,326 arrests.

“It sets the tone of order in the system,” Fox said. “We’ve had people that are wanted for murder that we’ve gotten … people with loaded weapons. For some people criminal activity is a daily habit.

“That’s a very effective tool in policing in the transit system,” he added.