The New York City Police Department will place an officer on every overnight subway train in the city for the next six months, Governor Kathy Hochul announced Tuesday as part of the state’s plan to tackle transit violence.
Hochul’s proposal comes almost one month after an illegal immigrant from Guatemala allegedly burned a sleeping woman alive aboard a Brooklyn train. The incident dominated headlines in recent weeks and generated much concern about public safety in the city’s subway system.
“I want to see uniformed police on the platforms, but more importantly, we will put an officer on every single train, overnight — 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. — over the next six months, and the state will support these efforts financially,” the Democratic governor said during her State of the State address Tuesday afternoon.
Hochul bragged on December 22 about improving subway safety, hours after the woman was fatally lit on fire. The governor faced intense backlash from Republicans and Democrats alike for her tone-deaf comments.
The 33-year-old illegal immigrant, Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, who allegedly killed the woman was charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and first-degree arson last month. The victim was identified as Debrina Kawam, 57, of New Jersey.
Representative Ritchie Torres (D., N.Y.), who is considering running for governor in 2026, blasted Hochul for funding police officers in subway cars overnight while neglecting the daytime hours.
“Governor Kathy Hochul will only pay for an ‘overnight’ police presence in every subway train. What about the daytime?” Torres posted on X. “Debrina Kawam was barbarically burned alive not overnight but in the morning. Governor Hochul might have been too busy taking self-congratulatory subway selfies to notice.”
Major crime in the subway was down about 5 percent last year compared with 2023, while it was down 3 percent in the entire city, according to the NYPD. From 2023 to 2024, robberies in the subway decreased by 16 percent and felony assaults remained roughly the same. However, those crime figures are significantly above the pandemic levels of 2020 and 2021.
While crime trends are down, recent high-profile acts of violence have created the perception that the subway is unsafe for everyday commuting.
“The subways will always be a bellwether for the perception of public safety in New York City,” NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch said last week during the annual year-in-crime press conference. “Declining crime numbers are significant, but we still must do more because people don’t feel safe in our subways.”
Tuesday’s move to deploy police officers on New York City’s subway trains comes about a week after Mayor Eric Adams announced that NYPD will place 200 more cops on trains and platforms to curb crime.
The effort also comes as the state continues to deploy the National Guard in the city’s subway system, where troops have been conducting random bag checks and patrolling the stations. New York initially deployed 750 National Guardsmen and 250 state police officers last March.