Earlier this month, Mayor Eric Adams introduced that crime in prepare stations went down 3% final 12 months, however he needs so as to add 200 extra police all through the system.
“ Watching that cop stroll via the subway, seeing him current, having the conductor announce there’s a police officer on a prepare — [are] the entire issues that can permit New Yorkers to really feel the omnipresence and really feel secure,” Adams mentioned at a press convention.
For some individuals within the Tempo group, nonetheless, the presence of the police makes them really feel the alternative.
“My expertise with cops is a nasty repute with them due to me being a Black male in a white group, and rising up in a ’hood,” mentioned Aaron, a Tempo scholar who’s being recognized by first identify just for privateness issues. “It affected me mentally and bodily due to being a six-foot Black male. They’ll take a look at me in a different way, like a felony and a thug once I’m not. I’m truly a pleasant particular person.”
Final June, Aaron mentioned he was wrongfully accused and bodily detained by the NYPD on the Grand Road cease after leaving college. He was getting onto the prepare together with his buddy when the conductor held the prepare within the station and accused Aaron of smoking marijuana within the prepare. “The cops then pulled me out of the prepare and tried to place my fingers behind my again to arrest me,” Aaron mentioned. “The individuals on the prepare checked out me and mentioned it wasn’t me.”
Jamel, a Tempo scholar who can be being recognized by first identify just for privateness issues, had an altercation with the NYPD final September. He was coming dwelling from college on the B prepare when a police officer stopped him for seemingly no purpose. “They touched me in my non-public space with out consent, and I’m a minor,” Jamel mentioned. “I simply felt harassed as a result of I didn’t even have something on me.”
In a separate incident, Jamel mentioned he noticed the NYPD assault a Black man within the Cathedral Parkway–one hundred and tenth Road station. “They beat them, they put them in cuffs, they took them,” Jamel mentioned. “I don’t know what occurred after that.”
Regardless of these experiences, Jamel mentioned he doesn’t assume extra police in prepare stations is essentially a nasty thought, as a result of presence of crime normally. Nonetheless, “I simply really feel like in the event that they’re gonna put extra cops in there, they put cops that take their job significantly and never cops which might be energy hungry and do what they need,” Jamel mentioned.
English co-teacher Mr. Pettersen mentioned the NYPD has by no means stopped him in a prepare station, however he has seen police harassing homeless individuals and located it “deeply disturbing.”
“Issues get heightened due to police within the subway,” Pettersen mentioned. “Issues don’t get cooled off. They get hotter, particularly for individuals who don’t have a roof over their head however deserve one.”
The perfect factor to do when stopped by a police officer is to remain calm and picked up, in response to the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU). Don’t grow to be aggressive and combative, even in the event you really feel you’re being harassed. In response to NYCLU, do the next:
Ask in the event you’re being arrested or in the event you’re free to go away.
Don’t use vulgar language or run away. This might result in an arrest.
Ask for a reputation and badge variety of the officers.
This story was reported with the educational help of freelance journalist Arabella Saunders.
Albert and Lewis are college students at Tempo Excessive College. This text was initially revealed of their “Pacer NYC” scholar newspaper and seems right here as a part of a partnership with Press Cross NYC. It has been flippantly edited for AmNews model.
