By: Ilana Siyance
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has hired private security to keep New Yorkers safe during their commute.
As reported by the Wall Street Journal, in response to the recent crime spree that affected the NYC subways system, the state run agency added more security guards, while simultaneously calling on the city to add more cops in response to assaults on staff, slashings of riders, people being pushed off of platforms, and the killing of two homeless people. The MTA has suffered a significant loss in ridership since the pandemic, with ridership still about 60% below normal levels. A recent customer survey showed that riders are increasingly worried about safety on public transit.
The transit agency said it plans to spend $2.2 million monthly on private security guards, as part of its annual $17 billion operating budget. Sarah Feinberg, the MTA’s interim head of subway operations, said they already added guards at the start of the pandemic, to protect the nearly desolate stations. Now the number of guards at the agency’s 472 stations will double from 100, up to 200 by the end of May.
The guards are not armed, so their job is to report potential dangers, whether it be homelessness, mental health or drug use, as per Ms. Feinberg. They will liaise with MTA station agents as well as the police. They will also log fare evasion. “We want them to use their judgment and never engage if it could escalate into anything confrontational or violent,” Feinberg said.
As per the WSJ, the guards are mostly concentrating on stations were there have been recurrent problems with drug, vandalism, burglary, or instances of harassment including the following Manhattan lines: Harlem–125th Street station, West Fourth Street–Washington Square and 181st Street on Eighth Avenue.
The main responsibility of keeping the subways safe falls into the NYPS. Despite recent felonies in the subways, however, Mayor Bill de Blasio has been hesitant to send more cops, accusing the MTA of exaggerating the overall rate of crime. Bill Neidhardt, a spokesman for Mayor de Blasio said that currently NYC’s police deployment in the subways is at the highest it’s been in 25 years, adding that the MTA should hire its own police officers. “The MTA needs to pull their weight, too,” he said.
“The last thing I want to do is to devote precious resources in the middle of a financial crisis to additional security contractors,” said Feinberg. “But I’m also not going to be in a position where my customers and workforce continue to feel uncomfortable and unsafe.”
