Mayor Bill de Blasio says the NYPD is expanding the community policing strategy into the subway system.
Police officers will be assigned to the same subway stations and lines. De Blasio said that will allow riders to get to know the officers. The mayor said that will make people more likely to report criminal activity.
“When they have information, they're able to stop crime. And what they're getting now in a way they didn't used to get before is everyday New Yorkers who will come up and share information with them because they feel that human bond. So I know it's going to make us safer,” de Blasio said.
The program is being launched in the Bronx and Brooklyn and will expand to other parts of the city. De Blasio said community policing has already been successful in neighborhoods around New York.
“Neighborhood policing works incredibly well in our streets, it's going to work really great on our subway cars as well and on our platforms. It's going to change the lives of people all over the city,” de Blasio said.
A total of 20 officers will be assigned to the fixed locations. The NYPD said they will be accountable for everything that happens in those areas and they will form relationships with riders that use those stations and trains every day.
“So they'll be a lot more familiarly between the already good relationship we have with the MTA and transit authority workers, but we're hoping to really strengthen that, strengthen communication,” NYPD Chief of Transit Edward Delatorre said.
Photo Credit: Getty Images