(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Crime on the New York City subway has gone up by 41% this year, and Mayor Eric Adams’s solution for the extreme increase is to encourage citizens to stop looking at their phones and listening to music while commuting.
In an interview on Good Day New York, Adams and host Bianca Peters talked about her commute on the subway and how she doesn’t wear headphones for fear of her personal safety.
TRAVEL ADVISORY: NYC ****TRANSIT SYSTEM****
Under-pressure NYC mayor Eric Adams tells residents to put their phones away, carry pepper spray, tasers and stop using Apple Airpods – suggesting unaware subway riders may be the REASON for rising violent crimehttps://t.co/FNGCH97o2P— Blue Lives Matter 💎 (@RetiredNYCPD) October 22, 2022
“Well first, I think that you were right about, you know, not having your iPods in—not focusing on the phone, and I say yes to that,” Adams replied.
“I do the same, and we put out a video and information telling people about being aware of what’s around them and what’s taking place,” he continued. “I encourage New Yorkers to do that.”
He also encouraged people to carry pepper spray and tasers.
Adams, a former police officer who ran on a tough-on-crime platform, also noted that he wants New Yorkers to “feel safe,” the Post Millennial reported.
Overall, crime in the city is up 34.4% across the city and has been surging as high as 50% since 2020. Felony assaults against New York citizens are up 17%.
The surge of violent crime on the subway has become the number one concern for riders, according to a recent survey done by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The mayor has done very little to slow the rise of crime in the city, making no attempts to equip the police more properly, while allowing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to continue emptying the state’s jails without opposition.
Adams himself has previously admitted to feeling nervous for his personal safety when riding the train, but he is insistent that the city’s crime is under control.
Even celebrity race-hustler Al Sharpton has trouble agreeing with that statement, however, after discovering that crime has become so rampant in the city that even toothpaste must be locked up in grocery stores.
