Cheer NYC’s progress in fighting subway crime — but will it last?

Mayor Adams and Gov. Hochul simply proved the apparent: Surge extra cops into the subways, and crime will drop — or no less than a few of it.

On Wednesday, they introduced that total subway crime is down 8% this 12 months, in comparison with final 12 months, making it 11% decrease than in 2019, the 12 months earlier than the pandemic.

Alas, the falloff isn’t practically as terrific as they make it sound.

Nor does it embody a long-term plan for conserving crime on downward path.

What occurs when the cops they’ve surged are gone?

Adams notes “5 straight months of double-digit decreases,” including that robberies this 12 months are the bottom “in recorded historical past.”

“As we speak, aside from through the pandemic, our transit system is the most secure it’s been in 14 years,” boasts Hizzoner.

However this comes after the town surged greater than 1,000 added officers into the system in February, plus one other 800 to crack down on fare-beaters.

And after Hochul additionally dispatched the Nationwide Guard and state police to the subways.

Different initiatives — extra safety cameras and mental-health professionals — additionally helped.

However this isn’t Adams & Co.’s first “subway surge”; previous positive aspects ebbed when the surge ended.

And although crimes like robberies fell (by 22.5% over final 12 months, and by 12.7% over 5 years in the past), others rose:

The subways have seen six murders this 12 months, in comparison with simply 5 final 12 months and two in 2019. Earlier than that, multiple or two for the entire 12 months was uncommon.

Felony assaults are down 7% over 2023, however stay up 51% over 2019.

Taking pictures victims additionally greater than doubled final 12 months and tripled over the previous 5 years.

In different phrases, violent crime nonetheless appears headed within the mistaken route.

Sure, extra cops and the farebeating crackdown helped. And Adams is now promising to put in gun-detecting scanners within the system.

However Hizzoner’s information doesn’t present what number of arrests — for, say, hopping a turnstyle — had been really prosecuted and whether or not extra (and stiffer) penalties for law-breakers may’ve produced higher outcomes, significantly in decreasing violent crime.

And it’s unlikely the additional metropolis and state regulation enforcers can keep without end; they’ll be wanted elsewhere quickly sufficient, leaving the subways ripe for one more crime spike.

Give the mayor, gov and MTA boss Janno Lieber credit score for making some headway.

New Yorkers have to know they’ll be protected within the subway; if too many keep away from it, the town won’t ever totally get better.

However Gotham wants a long-range plan (say, enlarging the NYPD and guaranteeing lawbreakers undergo significant penalties), not limitless rounds of whack-a-mole.