Tensions rise amid controversial police arrests at NYC subways

A wave of recent incidents involving confrontations between members of the NYPD and subway riders is leading some activists and local representatives to question the tactics employed by the police department, whose presence has grown more visible in the subway system in recent months.

Governor Cuomo announced this summer that he would deploy 500 police officers to increase security on subways, focusing mainly on cracking down on fare-beaters. The governor said the system has seen an increase in cases of assault against MTA employees, as well as other crimes. However, both the governor's statements on crime and his decision to increase the number of police officers have been put into question.

In October, now outgoing police commissioner James O'Neill said he disagreed with the governor's stats on subway crimes, which he called a “mischaracterization,” as noted in a piece by the Post. He added that there have only been six major crimes per day on the subway this year, for every 6 million users who navigate the system daily. In fact, the same police department statistics show that although some individual categories of crime have increased this year, the total number of serious crimes on the subway has decreased, a fact which the NY Times highlighted in a piece last week.

The NYPD's latest stats do, however, confirm the seemingly obvious: fare evasion enforcement is up 50 percent. There have 21,000 more civil summonses issued for fare evasion in 2019, compared to last year.

City Council President Corey Johnson vocalized fears that the presence of police will end up criminalizing the poorest passengers who cannot pay the $2.75 fare. A recent wave of viral videos capturing arrests on the train would seem to confirm such anxieties.

Last month, two videos showing what appeared to be use of excessive force by police on the subway caused a stir among local activists and officials. In the first, an officer can be seen beating two young men. In another, a group of officers is seen getting on a train and aggressively arresting a 19-year-old boy who doesn't appear to be resisting. Police said they had heard that he had a gun, though this turned out not to be the case.

The incident triggered a massive protest on November 1st, at the Hoyt–Schermerhorn station in Downtown Brooklyn. Hundreds of demonstrators jumped the turnstiles in protest of the alleged abuses by the NYPD, who appear to be targeting mostly low-level crimes.

The most recent incident to spark outrage was that of a Hispanic woman who was arrested at a subway station in Brooklyn; her only crime, it seems, was selling churros at the station. Police defended the arrest, saying that the woman had received 10 citations in the last five months for operating without a vendor’s license at the same station, and was "refusing to cooperate" with the officers.

Many however saw the incident as a clear cut sign that the NYPD’s tactics mostly harm the poor and people of color. Local officials such as councilman Rafael Espinal Jr. denounced the event on Twitter. Espinal said of the incident: “the level of enforcement used against this vendor was totally unnecessary and over the top”.

State Senator Julia Salazar, who represents the district where the incident occured, offered to help the woman almost as soon as the video was published and called the police action "unacceptable”. Other officials also stood up for the vendor, including city comptroller Scott Stringer, state senators Alessandra Biaggi and Jessica Ramos, as well as the newly-elected public defender Jumanee Williams.

Senator Salazar also called a rally on Monday to protest the growing presence of police on the subways and to demand that Governor Cuomo improve the transportation system, as well as offer greater opportunities for street vendors.

Meanwhile, the left-wing activist group, Decolonize This Place, called for a second protest in the wake of this and other recent events, to take place November 22. Through their social media, members of DTP have been documenting the various confrontations involving police and passengers at subway stations.