Assaults on NYPD officers have skyrocketed in subways, MTA says

Assaults on police officers in the subways surged in recent years as the NYPD ramped up enforcement in the transit system, MTA officials said Wednesday.

MTA Chief Security Officer Michael Kemper said during the agency’s board meeting that 179 police officers were assaulted in the subways during 2024, compared to 71 in 2019.

He pointed out that assaults on cops accounted for nearly 1 in every 3 felony assaults reported in the system last year, and said the trend is part of why 2024 had the highest number of felony subway assaults since at least 1997. MTA officials highlighted the crime trend after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy publicly criticized the transit agency over its handling of subway crime last week.

“Contributing to the rise in felony assaults is the disturbing and unacceptable dramatic increase in the number of NYPD cops being assaulted, all while proactively patrolling the subway system, focusing on and enforcing fare evasion, quality of life offenses, amongst other offenses,” Kemper said.

Following several high-profile violent crimes in the subways, the NYPD last year deployed 800 extra police officers into the system. The move followed Gov. Kathy Hochul’s order to send hundreds of National Guard soldiers into subway stations. Officials at the time said the moves would target fare evaders, who they said are more likely to commit other crimes in the system.

MTA Chair Janno Lieber explained the trend of police assaults followed a similar pattern where a “cop stops someone for fare evasion or some other offense, and the offender hits the cop.”

“That pattern has to stop,” he added.

The agency’s leaders on Wednesday pointed out crime fell during the first two months of 2025, and noted it’s the NYPD’s job to patrol the subways.

“I’m just mystified by why the secretary of transportation, who was himself a DA at one point, would be attacking the NYPD who are doing everything in their power [to reduce crime],” Lieber said.

Duffy last week demanded the MTA send him crime data and plans to reduce disorder in the subways — much of which is publicly disclosed during the agency’s monthly board meetings.

During Wednesday’s meeting, MTA Finance Chair Neal Zuckerman invited Duffy to join the board during their April gathering. Lieber also said he’d welcome Duffy to join him for a subway ride.