NEW YORK CITY (WABC) — Concerns also continue about Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plan to combat subway crime, with transportation unions arguing that the plan does not go far enough to provide a sustainable long-term solution. There is.
On Tuesday, TWU Local 100 officials pushed back, even though the governor wanted her efforts to show results.
“Governor Hochul’s decision to deploy the National Guard recognizes the serious problem of traffic crime,” the union said in a statement. “However, it falls short of providing a sustainable, long-term solution to road crime.”
Hochul’s plan includes using the National Guard to provide security support during random bag searches, as well as flooding the system with state and MTA employees to help protect New Yorkers.
The union also blames Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for his lack of action to ensure minimal penalties and prompt release.
“Most of the people who are arrested have criminal records,” said TWU Local 100 President Richard Davis. “If you look at their records, they’ve been arrested many times. They’ve been to jail many times, and the courts are like a revolving door. They come right out to the streets.”
Davis said one transit worker was spat on by an unruly passenger, but the union president says the MTA isn’t doing enough to protect workers and is constantly He said he was spitting in the workers’ faces.
“I want to walk up to 2 Broadway and spit in Jano Lieber’s face and see if he’ll take it from me. I’ll see if he’s okay with that,” Davis said.
TWU ran a full-page ad in the New York Post featuring Bragg and MTA Chairman Jano Lieber as “fools and fools.”
The union is also calling for more effective safety meetings with transit leaders to actually address safety concerns transit workers have.
Davis also said violent assaults against transit workers are on the rise.
He cited two incidents of assault involving Noreen Mallory, a subway station worker who was punched repeatedly in the eye last month.
He said the attacker faces a maximum sentence of two years in prison for second-degree assault, but that alone is not enough. That’s only part of the problem.
Eyewitness News has asked the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the MTA for answers to the transportation union.
Meanwhile, Governor Hochul believes her efforts will help curb crime in the system.
“We have to calm down the situation now and restore some sense of normalcy, and I think that’s just an element of that. It’s a five-point plan, and it’s a five-point plan to help other passengers and passengers. “It’s also to detain people who committed violence against people who committed acts of violence. “A conductor shouldn’t be on a train, and people who did that shouldn’t be on our trains,” Hochul said. “We work with the district attorney and law enforcement, and if someone has committed a crime in the metro, we meet weekly to try to make sure they don’t become repeat offenders.”
Mayor Adams on Tuesday praised the presence of the National Guard and State Police in transit.
“I would love to have that state trooper standing there,” he said. “I think their uniforms are super cool. The fact that they’re there, standing in the subway, people like to see that. That’s what we’re fighting for. .”
According to NYPD statistics, crime on the subways has increased by 13.2% over the year.
The governor sent in the troops after denying the city’s request for millions of dollars in overtime funding for the NYPD. Last week, the department’s patrol chief suggested that was a mistake.
Secretary of State John Chell posted on social media: “Our transportation system is not a war zone.” “Has baggage inspection been in place since 2005?”
While this deployment may make riders feel safer, he says it would actually make them safer by incarcerating repeat offenders.
“What we’re asking the judges to do is, when we have the opportunity to release really bad repeat offenders, to get them off the street after we’ve done our job. Prosecutors should do their job,” Chell said. , the judge also does his job.” “That’s what we want. You take care of repeat offenders, and crime in the city will plummet, the city will prosper, and we’ll still be one of the safest in the world.” It’s a city.”
While some riders say they feel safe, others think it sends the wrong message.
“New Yorkers want the subways to be safe, but the National Guard is in Hamilton County, not in New York City, but in Erie County,” said urban studies professor Mitchell Moss. “Subways need to be safer, and we need police to make that happen.”
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7 On Your Side investigative reporter Dan Kraus reports this story.
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