The MTA is asking for 1,500 additional police officers to be assigned to the city’s transit system – triple the number the NYPD said it would send on Monday.
Police chiefs on Saturday pledged to put at least 500 more police officers into the system after a homeless man unleashed violent violence over the weekend that left two people dead and two injured.
“We believe that the 500 additional police officers you have agreed to dedicate to the subway system are an important first step, which will help to alleviate the fears of the heroic customers and traffic workers who serve this city every day,” MTA President Pat Foye, and interim transit president, Sarah Feinberg said in an open letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD commissioner Dermot Shea on Sunday.
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“We believe more is needed, however, we are writing today to request that 1,000 more NYPD officers be assigned to the Transit Bureau to patrol subways and buses immediately,” wrote Foye and Feinberg.
“We request that uniformed police teams be assigned to each station and that officers use the system throughout the day and at night to ensure the safety of our customers and colleagues.”
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The letter noted that there has been “a disturbing trend” in the increase in attacks on the public transport system, despite a general drop in crime in the city – even with a 70% drop in the number of metro passengers and a 50% drop in the number of bus users.
“Assaults on our workers, from harassment and threats to physical violence, continue to occur very often,” wrote Foye and Feinberg. “Each of these occurrences is too many.”
The bloody weekend cuts on the A train line marked the last in the recent wave of traffic violence. Rigoberto Lopez, a 21-year-old homeless man, was arrested in the attacks.
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City hall representative Avery Cohen told the Post in an email on Sunday: “The city is immediately recruiting 500 police officers to keep New Yorkers safe on our trains, stations and platforms.
“They will work side by side with the thousands of officers and community agents who are already doing this work in our communities and on the subways every day.”
The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment.
This report originally appeared in the New York Post.