Target: Eric Adams, Mayor of New York City
Goal: Immediately implement a mental health task force and relevant homeless services instead of an increased police presence to address New York City’s crime spike.
Mayor Eric Adams is stepping up law enforcement numbers within New York City’s subway system. This increase comes in response to a recent wave of high-profile subway attacks. However, although crime is on the rise, a heightened police force is not the answer. Rather, Eric Adams should immediately deploy strong mental health and homeless outreach to work with the unhoused population and address the root cause of our crime jump.
According to the New York Times, felony assaults have increased about 200 percent compared to 2019. Robberies went up 125 percent and 65 percent for major felonies all around. Overall, as The City reports, most serious crimes rose around 5 percent. The latest victim of this uptick is Christina Yuna Lee, who only last week was followed into her Manhattan apartment and stabbed to death by a homeless man.
Adams contends that the ‘“omnipresence’” of the NYPD “‘is key’” to combating subway and homeless related crime. Governor Hochul has also announced a request for proposals to create teams of 8-10 outreach workers to interact with unhoused people on the train. However, this number pales in comparison to the extra 1,000 police officers that Adams has added to New Yorkers’ commute. This, coupled with the fact that, according to NY1, the train system already has the highest numbers of officers in two decades, points to a trend of future policies focusing on symptoms of an issue, instead of their sources.
We do not need more police officers patrolling the subways, who are untrained and unequipped to deal with the complexities of homelessness, and who will aggravate the racial and economic inequality that comes along with law enforcement. Sign below and demand the immediate omnipresence of a team of mental health workers, medical personnel and poverty experts deployed through New York City’s subway system.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Mayor Adams,
The increase in New York City’s crime has compelled you to assign one thousand more police officers to patrol the subway system, with a promise of more on the way. This decision is a direct exercise of ineffective force that tackles the consequences of a problem, and not its root.
Subway crime and homeless perpetrators has become the pandemic’s signature combination. The unhoused, alongside the unemployed and impoverished, have risen in numbers and are suffering at the hands of need and illness. We need a team that addresses these lacks, instead of an increased militarized force patrolling the trains.
We demand the immediate deployment of homeless outreach teams to address the homelessness crisis and, in tandem, our crime spike.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Garry Knight
I signed this petition but the police presence should be kept. Crime is being committed and victims should be protected.