Following a joint announcement over the weekend by Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul aimed at increasing public safety on the city’s transit system, MTA Chairman Janno Lieber publicly threw his support behind the new initiative Monday morning.
The three-part plan to fight subway crime, dubbed “Cops, Cameras, and Care,” will add about 1,200 additional NYPD and MTA officers working overtime shifts at over 300 stations every day, adding up to about 10,000 more patrol hours daily.
The plan also includes the installation of additional security cameras and two new 25-bed psychiatric units to treat the mentally ill.
Appearing on “Mornings On 1” Monday, Lieber explained why he thinks the plan is a game changer.
“Here’s the big move that was in that plan over the weekend: we are going to start to deal with the problem that New Yorkers understand, which is that we have too many folks who are struggling with serious mental illness in the public space—especially in the subways,” Lieber said. “New Yorkers are compassionate. They feel for these people, but they also can be scary, and when you see someone who is acting out—who is yelling, screaming, getting physical—you want them to be dealt with.”
The move to bolster security on the city’s transit system comes after a series of high-profile crimes, including stabbings and unprovoked attacks.
According to Lieber, most of these crimes are committed by people who are dealing with severe mental illness.
“I think that the governor has broken through on a new approach. It’s as she says, ‘Cops, cameras and care,’ and the care part has not been here. We’re going to get some of these people out of the public space.”
The latest initiative follows in the footsteps of other public safety policies meant to sure up confidence among straphangers.
In September, Hochul announced the MTA would move forward with its plan to install surveillance cameras inside all 6,455 of its subway cars.
Each car will have two security cameras by “sometime in 2025,” Hochul said last month.