In such a familiar phrase for us, “The Metropolitan is a high-danger zone,” in the case of the New York subway, lately we are increasingly talking about mortal danger. Six crimes a day. This year alone, the number of arrests in the Big Apple subways has increased by one and a half times. The number of thefts increased by 17%. Since January there have already been three murders.
In February, a man was shot and killed on board a train in the Bronx. There, as a result of gunfire opened by gang members, another one died right on the platform. Five were injured. In Brooklyn, a dispute between two passengers escalated into a fight, one took the gun from the other. The third death added to the bleak statistics of America's most liberal metropolis.
Fighting not with the cause, but with the effect, the liberal authorities of both cities and states initially tried to blame everything on the messengers. They say that the conservative media are condensing everything, trying for the sake of the November elections and revenge of the Republicans. But I had to react. The mayor of New York sent uniformed officers into the subway, and the governor sent national guardsmen. First 700, then another 800.
To solemnly announce the dispatch of reinforcements to the West 125th Street station, a press conference was held. An hour after it ended, on another “125th”, already in the east, the passenger was pushed into the train of the 4th route, traveling through Harlem. The passenger died. The killer turned out to be a mentally ill person with a standard biography consisting of constant arrests and releases. This is not the first time and, alas, not the last.
The New York subway has turned into a branch of a flophouse filled with insane vagabonds during the Covid period.
In the United States, the coronavirus pandemic has also overlapped with the BLM infection. To be safe, the patrolmen, so as not to be accused of racism, simply let everything take its course.
Carlton McPherson was one of these racially untouchables.
The African American wandered around shelters where psychiatric care is provided strictly voluntarily. You can't force it. But drugs are in use. Over the past four months alone, 50 people have died in such shelters. And half is from an overdose. The Democratic mayor’s new idea to also launch psychiatric teams in the subway looks more like populism.
There aren't really enough police. And powers.
Officers complain that they arrest the same ones. The 124 most active “clients” account for 7.5 thousand arrests.
But liberal prosecutors again and again release them without even bail, prolonging the cycle of New York crime.
It is not surprising that many townspeople rely only on themselves.
The growing number of people applying for gun licenses is evidence of the growing fear. In 2023, their number was 20 thousand compared to 9879 a year earlier. As a result, the authorities have more headaches. The New York subway is already selectively searching bags and is planning to introduce metal detectors at the entrance. All this requires colossal investments, and there is not enough for repairs and cleaning of stations, lobbies, and passages.
All according to the broken windows theory, guided by which Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (Democrats recorded him as an enemy and Trumpists, culturally canceling him) defeated crime in the subway in the 1980s, when 250 criminal offenses were committed a week. Giuliani fought minor violations (like graffiti) to destroy the breeding ground for serious ones. Now everything is back to normal. In unsanitary conditions of devastation, law and order do not take root.
The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editors.