NYPD Commissioner Sewell to Deploy More Transit Police, who Will be Engaging Riders in Conversation

By Yehudit Garmaise

Hundreds of more transit police officers are now going to be observing, listening, and engaging in conversation with New York City commuters to prevent crime.

Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell today announced that she is adding additional NYPD officers from the Transit Bureau, not only to stand guard, but to “move cohesively through the entire system: particularly on subway cars.”

The additional officers, some of whom Sewell said might be “shifted from administrative jobs into underground deployments, “will focus on engaging directly with riders with the mission of driving down crime upticks.”

When he was launching his mayoral run a year ago, Mayor Eric Adams told BoroPark24 that the NYPD was not using its resources effectively, and now he has the opportunity to better distribute and utilize trained police officers to actually promote public safety and not merely do desk work that could be done by civilians, who also make lower wages and therefore, could save the department money when they are hired for jobs that police officers do not need to do, Adams had explained.

Sewell said that she wants police officers “to engage with riders and to observe and document all that they see to create timely, intelligence-driven responses.”

The additional transit police officers, who will work with officers from the Patrol Service Bureau will be patrolling, not just to trains and platforms, but to the stations’ portals and stairways from both their street-side and underground positions.

NYPD commanders, to whom Sewell issued an imperative, “to flood those zones” of subways stations that are “most acutely in need of more uniformed presence,” will be directing their patrols from their above-ground precincts. 

“Safety throughout the subway system remains a top priority for the NYPD,” Sewell said. “This comprehensive new approach is centered on having more police officers on train cars, talking with riders, and listening to them because NYPD officers do not just respond to crime in our city:  they prevent it and deter it.”