Terrified New Yorkers Want Gun Detectors, More Cops In Subway: Poll

New York City NY

07 June, 2022

12:39 PM

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NEW YORK CITY — New York City dwellers' growing fear of violent crime has motivated them to support major changes to the city's subways, a new poll suggests. The vast majority of New Yorkers support putting more NYPD officers in the subway system, according to an NY1/Siena College poll of 1,000 city dwellers released Tuesday. And results show 63 percent support installing metal detectors at subway entrances — a once far-fetched idea increasingly being pushed by Mayor Eric Adams. "From New Yorkers' perspective, having more NYPD on the subways is a no-brainer, supported by 85%," said Don Levy, the director for the Siena College Research Institute, in a statement. "There is also strong support for installing metal detectors at subway entrances – at least for outer borough residents – although Manhattanites lean slightly against it." Both ideas likely would have been more controversial barely two years ago, when crime was much lower and pre-pandemic New Yorkers protested increased subway policing by mass acts of vandalism. But a surge in violent crime after the coronavirus struck in March 2020 apparently has New Yorkers thinking differently. The Siena poll found 76 percent of city dwellers surveyed are concerned they'll be the victim of a violent crime. "Seven in ten New Yorkers say they feel less safe today than they did before the pandemic; only 3% feel safer, and 25% say they feel about as safe today as they did pre-pandemic," Levy said. Many New Yorkers' concerns appear focused around subways, which have seen a spate of violent incidents during Mayor Eric Adams' first six months in office starting with the shoving death of Michelle Go, 42, at Times Square-42nd Street in January. The transit violence continued with an April mass shooting in a Brooklyn station that left 10 people wounded and at least 23 injured wounded. The random killing of straphanger Daniel Enriquez, 48, just weeks later only deepened fears. And just this weekend, NYPD officials said a woman was thrown off a Bronx subway platform by a complete stranger. Adams, in addition to MTA officials, has pushed for — and received — more NYPD officers on the subways, in addition to mental health workers. But many New Yorkers apparently feel Adams hasn't done enough on crime in general, despite his high-profile initiatives. "New Yorkers feel less safe than they did a few years ago, they're concerned about being victimized, and half are changing the way they go about their daily affairs as a result," Levy said. "It's no wonder three-quarters give Adams a negative grade on crime."