A trio of New York congress members are calling on Governor Andrew Cuomo to pump the brakes on a plan to add 500 new cops to the subway system, one day before the MTA is set to vote on the controversial measure.
Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jerry Nadler, and Jose Serrano are among those imploring the governor to intervene against the law enforcement hiring spree, which is likely to pass as part of the MTA's budget vote on Wednesday.
"Recent reports show that this action is not only unnecessary but also not cost-effective," reads the letter, which also has the support of several Democratic state senators. "In our view, desperately needed resources would be better invested in subway, bus, maintenance and service improvements, as well as protecting riders and transit workers from assault rather than in the over-policing of our communities."
The note cites several accounts of aggressive policing in the subway, including cops punching teenagers in the face and handcuffing churro vendors. Those incidents, along with the fact that the officers will not be required to wear body cameras, has led some MTA board members to distance themselves from the proposal.
But Governor Andrew Cuomo, who's led the charge for the new cops since this summer, controls a plurality of the board members, and none of his appointees have broken ranks.
Assuming the budget is approved, the cops will cost the MTA $56 million in the first year, and a total of $249 million over the next five years. That same sum could improve midday and weekend subway service by 15 percent, according to the transit advocacy group Riders Alliance, or vastly turn around struggling bus service in the Bronx.
As opposition to the costly crackdown on low-income fare evaders and homeless New Yorkers has grown, the justifications for the new cops offered by the governor and his transit leaders have evolved.
After Cuomo cited a "dramatic increase" in subway crime as a reason to hire more cops, he was quickly corrected by the NYPD and forced to walk back that language. His allies in the MTA have also pointed to terrorism, hate crimes, and assaults on transit workers as potential reasons for the new officers.
The MTA's own operating budget proposal indicates the additional police will be primarily focused on fare evasion and homelessness.
On Tuesday, the transit agency responded to the letter with a statement attributed to Chairman Pat Foye. “We will not engage in politics when it comes to public safety: New Yorkers deserve to have reliable service and feel secure on our system – these priorities are one and the same," the statement read.
It went on to note that there has been an increase in hate crimes, robberies and aggravated harassment on the subway, as well as a reported uptick in assaults on transit workers—something that the letter says should be addressed through a "more finessed deployment approach."
Cuomo's press secretary referred us to the MTA for comment. But on Monday, secretary to the governor, Melissa DeRosa, shared a Twitter poll purporting to show that a majority of New Yorkers support the addition of more subway cops, with the comment, "Twitter V Real Life."
It appears the results of that survey were published solely on Twitter, and the pollster has declined to share their name, methodology, margin of error, or sample size.
A spokesperson for the Governor's Office did not say whether they were responsible for the poll.
