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| Photo Credit: AP. |
NYPD officers have begun solo patrols in NYC subway system in a move designed to expand law enforcement’s presence on mass transit despite police union’s objection to the move.
On Tuesday
the city’s Mayor Adams announced the measures saying that solo patrols began
Monday night, New York Daily News reports.
At an
afternoon press conference in Brooklyn where the NYPD demolished 100 dirt bikes
seized during a crackdown on reckless motorbike riders, Adams justified the
measure saying he did solo operations as a police officer.
“For many
years we had a version of what was called single patrol. I did it as a police
officer,” Adams, a former transit cop said, according to New York Daily News “I
wouldn’t have anyone do a job that I wouldn’t do.”
Adams added
that certain train stations will be patrolled by lone cops but added that none
will take place during the overnight hours, Adams said.
“We are
looking at how to better utilize our resources,” he explained, according to New
York Daily News “We’re looking at the stations and if we find one where a
single patrol is doable and we’ll do that.”
While
justifying the move, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said the single
patrols will help the department “cover more ground by patrolling more subway
cars per tour,” New York Daily News reported.
“We’re
always looking to improve the way we work,” Sewell said.
The plan is
facing stiff opposition from the city’s largest police union over fears that it
might limit an officer’s ability to protect the public and themselves.
“We can’t
fix the NYPD staffing crisis by spreading our overstretched resources even
thinner,” Police Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch said last week, New
York Daily News reported. “Solo transit patrols were abandoned because they
make it harder for cops to protect straphangers and ourselves. They’re even less
effective now that criminals know there are no consequences for fighting cops
and resisting arrest.”
Lynch
stressed that the initiative will “only accelerate the exodus” of officers
putting in for retirement.