NYPD Orders More Transit Cops to Patrol Subways Alone, Leaving Some Worried for Their Safety

 

By Thomas Tracy, Dan Rivoli and Graham Rayman

The NYPD has ordered more transit cops to go solo when patrolling the subways — a move transit workers and police union bosses slammed, the Daily News has learned.

Chief Joseph Fox, head of the Transit Division, told commanders of the 12 districts across the city to station more solo posts to increase coverage, sources told The News. The directive took effect Tuesday at midnight and affects day and evening tours. Transit cops on the midnight tour will continue to patrol in pairs.

Following the murders of Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu in 2014, and after the July killing of Officer Miosotis Familia, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton and his successor, James O’Neill, ordered cops to patrol in pairs for safety. The directive, apparently a departure from that approach, applies to uniformed transit cops.

Subway crime statistics may be driving the change. While major crime in the city is down 5.5% overall through Sunday, it is down just 0.6% on subways and buses.

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Source: The New York Daily News (via The Empire Report)