The sound. The sensation. The subway sleepiness.
No doubt you've been there after a long day at work or school, or any long day. Grabbing a seat on the train, you start scrolling through your phone, and as the subway rumbles forward, your eyes grow heavier and heavier.
Suddenly, you’re awake. Your phone is gone. Your apps, your pictures, your contacts, your personal information all gone as well.
Sadly, you would not be alone in having this happen to you — and the NYPD is sounding the alarm on the trend.
“It’s one of the lowest levels of theft. If you think about like it’s just somebody is innocent sleeping. They can’t even defend themself and you’re just taking stuff from them,” said Sgt. Jason Bernfeld, one of the leaders of NYPD’s Transit District 20 plainclothes team.
The team has been riding trains throughout Queens at night, where the sleepy crime trend is spiking, looking for the thieves and delivering a wake up call to riders.
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“It’s more than just enforcement too, there’s outreach. We aren’t only there to stop people and ticket them. We are also here to help people, educate people. And watch over people,” explained Bernfeld.
News
News 4's I-Team followed along with the law enforcement team on patrol in the subways. We saw the team wake up more than 10 riders across several subway lines in Queens in less than an hour. The team will approach a resting passenger, start recording the interaction on their body camera, and then wake the sleeping straphanger.
Bernfeld approached a slumbering straphanger to warn about what could happen.
“Hey, how are you doing? Sorry to bother you. NYPD. Just so you know, I’m recording, OK?" Bernfeld told the passenger. "Just be careful sleeping in the train alright. You got your bag out. We got a lot of thefts of people sleeping."
The thieves have a specific subway shopping list they’re after, according to police.
"Cellphones are huge. I mean cellphones are just they’re taking them a dime a dozen. And then wallets containing cash or credit cards. Jewelry," said Bernfeld. "Something easily accessible with jewelry, they’re not taking a ring that’s gonna be hard to get off someone sleeping — but if it’s a loose necklace, gold chain or something like that."
The team also stressed the choice of seating makes a difference. Those sitting next to a subway door need to be even more alert: Thieves will quickly grab a phone and dash off the train before the rider even realizes what happened.
“The doors open, the doors close. If I’m sitting here, my phone is in my hand, my laptop is on my lap and I’m sitting by the door. It’s quite easy for someone to jump in. Grab it and run. Before I even realize something happened, the door closed and I can’t even get after that person,” said. Bernfeld.
