(NEW YORK) -- Users of the nation's largest subway system will start seeing New York City police officers on every overnight train starting Monday as Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a strategy Thursday to tamp down rider anxiety that has been rising amid a series of horrific high-profile crimes.
"I'm not waiting," Hochul said during a news conference. "Monday you will start seeing the increased presence on the overnight trains.”
The $77 million strategy will put 750 additional police officers on platforms and in stations and 300 more officers on overnight trains, Hochul said.
"We've doubled the number of law enforcement personnel in the New York City subway system in one year," Hochul said.
The governor said most of the crime committed on the subway system occurs during overnight hours.
"There is a lot of anxiety on these trains late at night. I want to tamper that down," Hochul said.
The move comes even as New York Police Department statistics show that crime in the transit system has plummeted 36% from this time last year.
However several high-profile attacks in the subway system have prompted calls from riders for government leaders to address the problem.
On Dec. 22, a woman sleeping on a stationary F train at Brooklyn's Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station died after being set on fire. The suspect, Sebastian Zapeta, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, was arrested after a brief manhunt and charged with first- and second-degree murder and arson in the death of 57-year-old Debrina Kawam, who authorities said was homeless and originally from Toms River, New Jersey.
Zapeta has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
On Christmas Eve, a man allegedly used a knife to slash a man and a woman at Manhattan’s Grand Central subway station, police said. The suspect faced assault and menacing charges Wednesday.
The man was arrested on assault, reckless endangerment, menacing, harassment, disorderly conduct and a weapons charge after the attack, which left a 42-year-old man with an injured wrist and a 26-year-old woman with a neck injury, police said.
On New Year's Eve, a 45-year-old man was shoved onto subway tracks ahead of an incoming train at the West 18th Street station in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, according to police. The victim, Joseph Lynskey, survived the attack that was caught on security video and is expected to make a full recovery, police said.
The suspect in the subway shoving, Kamel Hawkins, 23, was taken into custody and charged with attempted murder and assault. He has yet to enter a plea.
On Wednesday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced the indictment of a 23-year-old man in the slashing attack that occurred in December at the 50th Street subway station in Manhattan. Bragg alleged that the suspect, Orsen Reyes, stomped on a 48-year-old man's head and slashed him with a knife. Reyes was indicted on charges of first-degree assault, three counts of assault in the second degree and three counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
He has pleaded not guilty.
"New Yorkers deserve to be safe in our subway system, and we will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to combat transit crime," Bragg said in a statement. "I hope the victim continues to heal from this horrifying assault.”
Hochul's move comes after she ordered New York National Guard troops and New York State Police troopers to be deployed into the subway system to help riders feel safe. The deployment came after after six people were shot, one fatally, at a subway station in the Bronx on Feb. 13, 2024.
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