By Bob Harris
One of the big concerns of patrons of our mass transit system in New York City is safety. The Senior Citizens Advisory Council to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is a group of five senior citizens from each borough who usually meet monthly at 2 Broadway, in Manhattan, to give their evaluations, comments and opinions to MTA officials. At the last SCAC meeting, information was provided concerning keeping the subway safe.
Joseph R. Nugent, an NYPD interagency liaison, made a presentation. The main comment he made was that to be safe one has to be aware of one’s surroundings. You cannot be distracted by listening to music or texting. A criminal is always looking for a target of opportunity. One must act and walk confidently and look alert. Criminals want a target who is not aware of their attack.
I always remember that years ago officers from the 107th Precinct in Fresh Meadows who attended one of my civic meetings had warned us to always walk confidently and along open spaces so criminals would not jump out from behind bushes, trees or buildings. Nugent warned people not to sit next to a door in a subway car because criminals wait on the platform and reach into a car to grab a pocketbook or an electronic device just before the door closes. Some criminals ride between the cars and grab objects from people standing on the platform.
Although the MTA has cut down the number of people working in the subways, it does have intercoms on new trains and near ticket machines. There are parabolic mirrors in elevators and at the top of stairs and escalators which give one a view of who is around.
Men should keep their wallets in a front pocket or inside pocket and women should keep their pocketbooks in front of them. I do not remember a discussion about women hanging their pocketbooks over their arms or around their bodies, but a criminal will grab onto the strap of a pocketbook and drag the person until the strap breaks if the person gets wedged and the criminal then has to let go. This can injure the victim.
People are advised not to flash money or expensive electronic equipment. Pickpockets try to pick wallets so some men put rubber bands around their wallets, which will drag in a pocket. Women can obtain a “Gear Guard,” which is a clip that attaches to a zipper and the pocketbook, or use a big safety pin to fasten the zipper. One is advised to wait in the off-hours waiting area in a subway station.
One annoyance brought up by one of the SCAC members is the fact that sometimes disabled people who get on a train or bus, often with a wheelchair, do not pay the fare. She was told that there is an Eagle Team of about 200 people who are working to catch fare evaders of all kinds. More and more summonses are being given out by this team. The MTA is installing more cameras on subway stations as a security/terrorism technique.
People in their cars should be aware of “gas station sliders” who hang around and slide into cars when people are pumping gasoline or going to pay and then steal a pocketbook or the car.
BAD NEWS OF THE WEEK: I recently read that in the past dozen or so years the federal government paid farm subsidies worth about $12 billion to 50 different rich people or to businesses they own. Ironically, a Republican proposal could kick 5 million poor Americans off food stamps. Also, crop insurance is a subsidy.
GOOD NEWS OF THE WEEK: One day a couple of weeks ago, no people were killed due to violence in the city.
