Friend,
This week made it clearer than ever that increased police on the subway does not keep New Yorkers safe. On Sunday, NYPD opened fire at the Sutter Ave L train station in Brownsville, a predominantly Black neighborhood, shooting four people over one rider’s alleged evasion of the $2.90 fare. NYPD’s gunfire hit one bystander, Gregory Delpeche, in the head, leaving him with brain damage while he was commuting to his decades-long job at a public hospital.
NYPD has attempted to justify this horrific violence because the alleged fare evader was wielding a knife. There is no excuse for such a disproportionate, despicable use of force. NYPD chose to escalate this situation, and they made it abundantly clear they were there to protect $2.90, not the physical safety of transit riders.
Over the past year, city and state leadership have used fearmongering to expand law enforcement and surveillance on MTA, from Hochul rolling out the National Guard to Adams launching faulty metal detectors by scandal-plagued gun detection vendor Evolv. And last year, S.T.O.P. revealed the MTA contracts with the artificial intelligence surveillance firm Awaait to monitor subway fare evasion.
This increased militarization of the subway does nothing to keep riders safe. In fact, it seems like every decision made by Adams and Hochul is designed to do just the opposite, with Hochul even proposing a mask ban on the subway that puts riders’ health at risk. New Yorkers have had enough, and we know the real reasons why some MTA riders enter without paying: poverty, lost MetroCards, and limits on school transit passes.
Instead of criminalizing poverty, New York City must make the subway more efficient and accessible to all—investing in communities, not cops and costly gadgets. Learn more from groups like Riders Alliance who are doing essential work on the ground to make the subway safe for all New Yorkers.
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