In what is being called Operation Fare Play, the NYPD will be focusing on making sure people pay their fair share at subway turnstiles. The new effort stems from fare evasion often leading to other crimes being committed in the subways, according to police. NBC New York’s Checkey Beckford reports.
The New York City Police Department is dispatching another surge of officers into the city's subway system this week as part of an operation focused on stopping fare evaders.
Code named "Operation Fare Play," the department is sending hundreds of officers underground to dozens of stations across the city. They'll be focusing on the turnstiles and whether people pay their fair share.
“We’re thrilled by the commitment to transit safety demonstrated again and again by Mayor Adams and the NYPD," MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said in a statement.
Starting Monday, riders can expect to see additional police throughout the system, at least through this week.
The latest subway deployment comes on the heels of a number of high-profile crimes in the transit system. NYPD officials say fare evasion often leads to other crimes being committed on the subway -- and this action is a direct effort to curb violence.
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It's been almost two weeks since the fight on an A train in Brooklyn that led to a struggle and shots fired on the train as it rolled into the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station. Police officials have said the man shot in the head with his own gun was a fare evader.
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That A train shooting came a week after Gov. Kathy Hochul flooded the transit system with 750 National Guard troops and other law enforcement personnel in a bid to curb crime.
Violence in the subway system is rare, with major crimes dropping nearly 3% from 2022 to 2023 and killings falling from 10 to five during the same span, according to police. But serious incidents have attracted attention, such as a passenger's slashing of a subway conductor in the neck last month. Three recent homicides also made headlines.
Year over year, the NYPD says subway crime is down 15.5% this month. Police credit the initial wave of officers sent into the subway system last month to conduct bag checks for helping to lower those numbers.
