Our customer surveys tell us that the most pressing concern for subway riders is safety. I feel the same way. The good news is MTA is making serious headway on crime and the mental health crisis playing out in the transit system.
The latest NYPD statistics show major crimes fell 23% in April, continuing an impressive downward trend that started in February after Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams surged hundreds more officers, including State personnel, into the subways as part of her five-point plan to improve safety underground.
As I wrote in this space back in March, that initiative also called for expanding a joint State and City pilot program, the “SCOUT” program, that pairs trained clinicians who know the ins and outs of NYS mental health law with police officers to reach out to the most troubled – and most troubling to encounter – unsheltered New Yorkers in the subways. In the most severe cases, we are doing involuntary commitments.
The initial results are promising. SCOUT has made 113 placements to date, with 77 voluntary placements to shelters or safe haven facilities, 20 voluntary transports to the hospital for medical care, and 14 involuntary transports to the hospital for psychiatric assessment, most of which have resulted in a psychiatric in-patient admission.
So far, we are finding that consistent police presence actually reduces the need for police action. The clinicians say that having officers close at hand increases their own sense of safety, allowing them to have longer and more meaningful engagements with the most difficult clients – and there are many.
One SCOUT client was known to light fires in an MTA station. Another was reported to have pushed a customer toward the tracks. A third believed he was in Iraq and that SCOUT was a group of hostile soldiers. SCOUT got all these clients, and more, safely transported to the hospital and admitted for psychiatric assessment.
That is exactly the kind of outcome we’ve been hoping for. These vulnerable New Yorkers need help, not to be left to languish in the subway or thrown out into the street only to return later. And the millions of customers who use our system daily deserve to ride with peace of mind.
I’ve said it before — I won’t be satisfied until every New Yorker feels safe using transit. Continuing smart policies – like investing in SCOUT and working closely with the City and NYPD, as Governor Hochul has – is how we’ll get there.
Richard Davey is MTA New York City Transit president.
