Mayoral candidate and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo unveiled a subway safety plan Tuesday that would boost the number of underground transit cops by 50% to more than 4,000 — a level not seen since the 1990s.
Cuomo is also calling for accelerating the expansion of high-barrier turnstiles to deter fare evasion and dedicating a team of MTA inspectors whose sole job would be to address fare-beaters.
In terms of the additional cops, Cuomo said he would add 1,500 transit officers, increasing the force in the New York City subway system from 2,600 to 4,100.
He also would appoint a new subway safety director in City Hall who would report to the deputy for public safety or him directly.
“New Yorkers need to feel safe, criminal activity on the subways cannot be tolerated, and the mentally ill and homeless need help and services – period,” Cuomo said in a statement announcing his proposal.
The ex-governor, during a Post editorial meeting Monday, said that under current law, authorities can forcibly remove severely mentally ill and sometimes crazed and dangerous individuals wandering the subway and streets and put them into treatment.
They don’t belong on the subways, he said.
“Our transit system exists to be a transit system, not a haven for the social challenges no one wants to address,” Cuomo said.
The ex-gov’s press release Tuesday said, “Given the number of incidents of violence on the subways involving the seriously mentally ill, Cuomo supports involuntarily removal and commitment of these individuals in some cases to inpatient psychiatric facilities who pose a risk to themselves or others.”
The city and MTA have a number of programs where social workers, clinicians and police engage with the homeless and mentally ill individuals in the subways, a program first started by Cuomo when he was governor in 2019 as part of his subway safety plan then.
His latest plan calls for improving the coordination among these outreach efforts and increasing funding for them.
Mayor Eric Adams, with financial support from Gov. Kathy Hochul, has relied on overtime shifts and reassigning officers temporarily to boost police presence in the subways, but not a permanent increase in numbers.
Subway crime has dropped but is still above pre-pandemic levels, and repeat offenders remain a big problem.
Overall, Cuomo has vowed to increase the number of cops in the NYPD by 5,000, or 15%.
In his Monday meeting the The Post, Cuomo defended some of the criminal-justice laws he approved as governor — such as eliminating cash bail for many crimes and discovery rules — that critics say have contributed to crime.
