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| Beg Apple: Subways overrun with homeless |
| 2013-10-28 |
| [NYPOST] It's an express train -- to the bad old days. Cops are giving homeless people and panhandlers in the subways the kid-glove treatment, arresting subterranean scofflaws far less frequently than just two years ago, data show. They do vote, after all... Multiple times... The ranks of the homeless, meanwhile, have swelled to 1,841 this year -- a 13 percent increase over last year's tally, the city's Department of Homeless Services says. For straphangers, it has created an atmosphere of fear. "I feel threatened, especially taking the train at night," explained Brooklynite Lortashia Smith, who said she has been followed off trains several times. "The police can definitely do more." The NYPD said panhandler/peddler arrests in the subway have increased over the past year, with 409 pinched so far in 2013 versus 395 in 2012. But those numbers pale in comparison to 2011, when it was reported that in a six-month span that year, a whopping 930 panhandlers and peddlers -- the two are not separated in the data -- were arrested. "There's been a drop-off," acknowledged one police source. The NYPD refused to provide full-year data for 2011, when cops were busy cracking down on underground quality-of-life issues as part of a Transit Bureau initiative called Operation Moving Target. At that time, the NYPD explained arrests were up because of a targeted effort by the Transit Bureau to tackle quality-of-life offenses, which can lead to worse crime. Late Saturday, an NYPD spokesperson said a comparison to 2011 data is not "apples to apples" because the department removed arrests for soliciting and selling MetroCard swipes from the panhandler/peddler category last year. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #9 Why even have police in NYC? Except to protect the rich and powerful of course. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2013-10-28 14:10 |
| #8 Everyone in New York should start telling these 'freeriders' that the mayor's office is giving away free 64 oz drinks and free starbucks coffee gift cards. |
| Posted by: airandee 2013-10-28 13:28 |
| #7 TRANSLATION: The small of urine is everywhere. The kind of environment where naugahyde and plastic seats are by far and away preferable to cloth. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2013-10-28 11:33 |
| #6 wait til De Blasio (D-Communist) is elected. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2013-10-28 09:36 |
| #5 NYPD is feeling the heat on crime stats, so if they arrest less people, there's less crime! And Mayor Wanna-be-Tyrant doesn't look like dog turds on the national stage. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2013-10-28 09:21 |
| #4 Yea, now I remember. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2013-10-28 08:36 |
| #3 It's getting to be winter grom - many of them migrate south to Florida until spring. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2013-10-28 08:10 |
| #2 ranks of the homeless, meanwhile, have swelled to 1,841 this year NYC has < 2000 homeless? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2013-10-28 02:40 |
| #1 Underground quality-of-life issues. TRANSLATION: The small of urine is everywhere. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-10-28 01:57 |