Thugs pay & subway crime's up

[Renew Deal]

By PETE DONOHUE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Subway robberies have shot up 17% so far this year, and arrests for felonies in the underground also have increased as cops battle a jump in overall crime throughout the vast transit system.
For years, cops had focused on turnstile jumpers, reasoning that someone intent on committing a crime in the subways wouldn't pay for the privilege. But the thugs finally got wise to that successful crimefighting strategy and started paying the fare, forcing cops to come up with new tactics, police said.

"As violent-prone felons came to understand that they would be stopped at the turnstile for fare evasion, they tended to enter the system by paying and then committing crimes of opportunity," Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne said. "As a result, the NYPD redeployed uniformed and plainclothed officers, focusing resources on trains and platforms."

By the end of March, underground felonies had shot up 18.3% compared with the first three months of 2004.
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http://nydailynews.com/front/story/325303p-277970c.html

[tk2kewl]

1. or it could be that people are making less money and generally

feeling more hopeless

[fryguy]

2. thought the rise in crime was Apple's fault

everyone out to steal those trendy iPods...

[brainshrub]

3. It's all Clinton's fault.

Clinton taught the children of the 90s that it's okay to lie to a grand jury about sex. Now those kids are on the streets and mugging people.

/sarcasm