Stuck (out of) the middle, with criminals
Back when I rode the New York subway, I used to be a compulsive car-switcher. Too crowded at an odd hour? Funny smell? Easy, just go to the next car. Sadly, a purse-snatcher has ruined the fun:
In December 2005, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority made it illegal to move between the cars of a subway train. Before that, it had been illegal only to ride between cars on a moving train, said Paul J. Fleuranges, a spokesman for New York City Transit.
The result has been a sharp increase in the number of tickets handed out for moving or riding between cars, to 3,600 last year from 700 in 2005. This year, the police have handed out 1,955 such summonses.
This new regulation will probably do nothing to stop robbery and will likely only bother panhandlers and the people who try to escape them.
Post Author:
rj3 | 5:30 PM |
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It's odd that you left out the rest of the article, in which they point out that crime has dropped in the subway, as a result of this tactic and others like it:
The crackdown has produced other dividends for the police. Among those stopped for moving or riding between cars, the police have arrested 126 people with outstanding warrants. They also arrested four people who were carrying loaded guns and charged 45 people with carrying illegal knives including switchblades.
Thanks in part to such tactics, arrests of all types have surged in the subway this year, even as the number of major crimes reported at stations and on subway cars has dropped.
