New York City this year has spent a staggering $155 million for police overtime pay in the subway system, Gothamist reported.
Last year, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) overtime pay for the subway system was merely $4 million dollars.
Of the new $151 million in overtime pay, the state reimbursed the city for about $62 million, Gothamist reported Thursday.
This year's spending was part of an initiative dubbed "Cops, Cameras, and Care" by Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul, both Democrats, to reduce crime and crack down on New Yorkers sleeping in the transit system.
The resulted in the subways being flooded with uniformed NYPD officers working overtime shifts, Gothamist reported.
A police official said more than 1,000 additional police officers patrolled the subway system every day this year, the outlet reported. That is in addition to the 2,500 transit officers already working in the system in the NYPD's $250 million transit bureau.
That humongous increase in overtime pay corresponded to just a 2% drop in what police call major crimes (robbery, rape, and murder) in the subway.
Assaults in the subways actually rose by 5%, with 26 more in 2023 than in 2022.
The presence of more police in the subways did result in a skyrocketing number of tickets and arrests for fare evasion, the outlet reported.
NYPD Chief of Transit Michael Kemper said targeting fare jumpers saves the Metropolitan Transportation Association (MTA) money and brings "order" to the subway system.
"It's about correcting behavior," Kemper said, Gothamist reported. "Stopping fare evaders sets the tone of law and order."
Riders Alliance Policy and Communications Director Danny Pearlstein, however, said cracking down on fare evaders does not reduce crime in the subway system.
"Policing fare evasion is not the way to solve the MTA's revenue problems," Pearlstein said, the outlet reported. "It's primarily an issue of poverty."
The overtime money spent likely was affected by the NYPD continuing to see a massive wave of retirements and departures. The New York Post last month reported there had been 2,516 departures from the force this year and recruitment was slow.
Adding to the Big Apple's policing crisis was Adams' budget cuts that resulted in the next five police academy classes being canceled.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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