After the outbreak of the Covid 19, the rate of crime in New York City skyrocketed because homeless people are even more than before as they cannot be accommodated in shelter. Due to the Covid restrictions and social distancing, these people end up in the subways, leaving their belongings everywhere and are a menace to commuters.They also even started to be aggressive and violent with people in the subways.

Since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, the number of people being attacked and killed in the streets, and subways has increased, especially for Asian People.

According to the NYPD the number of anti-Asian incidents reported in the subway jumped last year, The NYPD data shows, accounting for more than one third of all bias crimes in the system. In the subway, police say “victims have been beaten, pushed in the front of oncoming trains, spit on and hit with racial slurs- and advocates say the numbers only begin to reflect the whole of the hatred aimed at Asian rider, estimating that only 10% to 30% of violent incidents are reported to law enforcement.

“Someone pushed an Asian person right in front of me on the subway track.”states Jessie Ma, a 12 grade student at Liberty High School. “ That really scares me. I didn’t feel safe before in the subway and today it’s even worse.”

The New York subway station and the subway itself are very dangerous, the government has done nothing to change that.  Zishan Ma, a student at  Baruch College says “I really hope that safety can be increased in New York City. After the COVID-19, I felt overwhelmed every time I have to take the subway because there were a lot of random and brutal attacks on our Asian group.”

 Some people believe that the two main issues can be avoided to enhance safety in the subway. First, homeless people should live in shelters instead of subways or streets. Homeless shelters keep established in five boroughs, and these places are the best and right places for them. 

Zishan also hopes, “They can add a turnover guardrail in front of the subway line to prevent whoever wants to jump in or be pushed down while the train comes.”

Women are advised to have bear spray or siren on them. This way, they can protect themselves when they encounter danger. When you take the metro, it is best to sit in a car train where there is staff, and where there are a lot of people, avoid empty cars, try not to sit in the last car of the train, most homeless people are in there, except if you see some normal people.

“To protect  myself in the subway station I make sure to stay very far away from the platform and while in the subway I change a car when I see a fight  or something suspicious” mentions Felicia Dole, a fast-food manager in Harlem. “ I think that’s what we should all do.”