Bratton, NYPD going after fare evaders and swipers

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Article #1

EXCLUSIVE: Arrests for transit fare evasion surge in recent years, putting it among city's top offenses leading to jail: Daily News analysis

 

Fare-beating arrests have increased 69% — from 14,681 in 2008 to 24,747 in 2013 — and are on pace to be slightly higher this year. Nearly 37,500 people have gotten sentences for the $2.50 crime that involved incarceration, including time-served, and 1,802 of those people were minors, according to data obtained by the Daily News.

BY Barry Paddock , Sarah Ryley

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Monday, August 18, 2014, 2:09 AM

 

bryan smith for new york daily news

The turnstile has become one of the city’s biggest pipelines to the jail cell.

Fare-beating busts have surged in recent years, and so has the number of people doing time for the $2.50 crime — making it one of the top charges that has led to incarcerations, a Daily News analysis has found.

The NYPD has said its “broken windows” strategy of targeting low-level crimes such as fare evasion helps prevent more serious crimes and gives cops the opportunity to check people for open warrants, weapons and drugs.

The News looked only at collars in the city’s subway system where fare-beating was the most serious charge, and found such arrests have increased 69% — from 14,681 in 2008 to 24,747 in 2013 — and are on pace to be slightly higher this year, according to data from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.

Meanwhile, fare-beating summonses — which carry much less serious consequences — are down 28% on both subways and buses, from 123,432 in 2008 to 89,128 last year, according to the MTA’s Transit Adjudications Bureau. Summonses are on pace to be higher this year — with 58,370 already issued by last week.

MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said fare evasion costs up to $100 million a year, and that the agency works in tandem with the NYPD to identify hot spots that can be targeted for enforcement.

“These numbers illustrate, once again, the failure of ‘broken windows’ policing,” said Justine Olderman, a managing director at Bronx Defenders, which has represented thousands of people in fare evasion cases.

 

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/fare-evasion-arrests-surge-years-article-1.1906667

 

 

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Article #2

 

NYPD going after criminals who tamper with MetroCard machines and sell 'swipes

 

Through last week, officers had arrested 260 scammers on criminal tampering charges this year. Along with subway gropers and panhandlers, the swipers and broken MTA vending machines are among the subway system’s quality-of-life issues that police are hoping to improve.

BY Pete Donohue

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Sunday, June 29, 2014, 11:51 PM

James Monroe Adams IV for new york daily news An MTA employee services a MetroCard vending machine in Brooklyn. Cops are cracking down on scammers who jam the machines.

Police are cracking down on subway scammers who jam MetroCard vending machines and then sell “swipes” through turnstiles — and cops will be turning the heat up even more, officials said.

Through last week, NYPD Transit Bureau officers had arrested 260 scammers on criminal tampering charges this year — a 45% increase over the same time period in 2013, a police spokesman said.

The MTA and police, meanwhile, are working on a plan that would force such vandals to pay restitution, covering costs associated with repairing disabled MetroCard machines that they knock out of service to drum up business for their illicit trade, police said.

“We are going to make a big dent in the problem of vandalism in the subway,” Police Commissioner Bill Bratton told the Daily News recently.

Illegal swipers and fare-beaters are a chronic plague that deprives the authority of tens of millions of dollars in revenue a year.

The swipers and disabled MetroCard vending machines also are among the quality-of-life issues that frustrate scores of subway riders — and make some feel uneasy, Bratton said.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/nypd-criminals-tamper-metrocard-machines-article-1.1848932#ixzz3Alx9LkXo

[peacemak3r]

Good to see NYPD going after slightly bigger crimes.

[Union Tpke]

Hopefully this will work.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

They have to address this issue sooner rather than later.  The fare will keep rising, and people will keep trying to not pay unless they know that they may face serious consequences.  It's clear from the responses of the people that were arrested that they see nothing wrong with what they did.  The kid borrowing his friend's Metrocard to use the subway is beyond entitled.  He wasn't given a Metrocard for the subway, so that means you pay to ride the subway.  You don't use someone else's Metrocard.  So stupid... He had money for a new suit, but can't afford $2.50... I hope they keep locking them up until these people learn to pay the damn fare like the rest of us and stop with the stories and excuses, and if they can't afford it, then walk or find another way around.  The people paying through the nose are tired of supplementing these deadbeats fares, and I applaud the NYPD for finally addressing the problem.  My main annoyances on the subway:

 

1. Breakdancers (aka it's "Showtime" ), beggars, kids that "ain't selling no candy for no basketball team", and upcoming "aspiring" ( ) musicians holding us captive on the subways

2. Swipers/swindlers those breaking the machines

3. People asking for a free swipe

[Brooklyn]

They have to address this issue sooner rather than later.  The fare will keep rising, and people will keep trying to not pay unless they know that they may face serious consequences.  It's clear from the responses of the people that were arrested that they see nothing wrong with what they did.  The kid borrowing his friend's Metrocard to use the subway is beyond entitled.  He wasn't given a Metrocard for the subway, so that means you pay to ride the subway.  You don't use someone else's Metrocard.  So stupid... He had money for a new suit, but can't afford $2.50... I hope they keep locking them up until these people learn to pay the damn fare like the rest of us and stop with the stories and excuses, and if they can't afford it, then walk or find another way around.  The people paying through the nose are tired of supplementing these deadbeats fares, and I applaud the NYPD for finally addressing the problem.  My main annoyances on the subway:

 

1. Breakdancers (aka it's "Showtime" ), beggars, kids that "ain't selling no candy for no basketball team", and upcoming "aspiring" ( ) musicians holding us captive on the subways

2. Swipers/swindlers those breaking the machines

3. People asking for a free swipe

 

Another WTF comment courtesy of VG8.

 

Where the hell did the article mention someone "borrowing" a metrocard?

 

First of all, I can let someone borrow my metrocard if I want to. It's my card. I paid for it. Are you saying that if I purchased a card and let a relative borrow it for the weekend, that's a crime?

 

Point to the law that says this is illegal. How would this be enforced? How would they know the metrocard that was being swiped wasn't bought by the person using it?

 

Also, where did the article mention Breakdancers? Musicians?

 

Are you serious, or is this a joke?

[YankeesPwnMets]

Ok Brooklyn, before going apesh*t on someone, kindly take some time to read the article:

 

 

Estrella said he had just bought a shiny gray suit, black button-down shirt and striped tie for his prom, and was using a friend’s student MetroCard to take the train home because his student card is only good for the bus.

 

And before you ask, yes, it is illegal to use another person's student MetroCard

[4P3607]

This explains why there's always cops at Woodhaven Blvd now. Every day there are some standing around in the mezanine, and occasionally I'll see a few sourrounding a few kids who are arrested. 

 

Now I noticed something about the ones getting arrested. The majority of the arrested ones are black, meanwhile others seem to just get a ticket. I have seen vice versa, but usually it's what I stated. 

 

Woodhaven Blvd is a prime spot for farebeaters as a lot of kids from school use that station (from the mall). The back entrance is usually where I see them, as if you're outside of fare zone you can't see if there are cops there or not on the right. Starting September 4th things are going to get interesting...

[Brooklyn]

Ok Brooklyn, before going apesh*t on someone, kindly take some time to read the article:

 

 

And before you ask, yes, it is illegal to use another person's student MetroCard

 

I will leave my original post up---I admit when I f up.

 

About the student card, correct. The other points I made still stand.

 

I am just so used to his bull--just assumed this more of the same.

 

VG8, F'ed up about the student metrocard. Can you respond to the other points?

[Via Garibaldi 8]

I will leave my original post up---I admit when I f up.

 

About the student card, correct. The other points I made still stand.

 

I am just so used to his bull--just assumed this more of the same.

 

VG8, F'ed up about the student metrocard. Can you respond to the other points?

These two articles are part of articles I've posted in the past of crackdowns that Bratton and the NYPD are doing in the subways dealing with swipers, breakdancers and beggars (of all types) candy sellers, etc., none of which you apparently have read.  I only posted part of the articles, and provided the links to the full articles with the purpose of people actually reading the articles in their entirety.

[Brooklyn]

These two articles are part of articles I've posted in the past of crackdowns that Bratton and the NYPD are doing in the subways dealing with swipers, breakdancers and beggars (of all types) candy sellers, etc., none of which you apparently have read.  I only posted part of the articles, and provided the links to the full articles with the purpose of people actually reading the articles in their entirety.

 

I read them, thanks--missed the part about Mr. Estrella.

 

I think putting the kid in a cell is a little to extreme.

 

Ticket him and call it a day.

 

Still didn't see anything about breakdancers in either article, but whatever.

 

Sorry I missed the VG8 series.

 

Sarcasm, of course.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

I read them, thanks--missed the part about Mr. Estrella.

 

I think putting the kid in a cell is a little to extreme.

 

Ticket him and call it a day.

 

Still didn't see anything about breakdancers in either article, but whatever.

 

Sorry I missed the VG8 series.

 

Sarcasm, of course.

Yes, yet again you fail to read...

 

 

NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said police hope to curb vandalism and other problems on the subway.

 

Bratton said his goal is to “diminish the quality-of-life stuff that gets them unsettled,” putting swipers, subway gropers and the homeless population in that category.

Quality of life issues on the subway also include beggars and breakdancers performing on the subway.  I already stated now twice that these two articles were part of a series of articles that have been posted regarding these sorts of quality of life issues.

[Brooklyn]

Yes, yet again you fail to read...

 

Quality of life issues on the subway also include beggars and breakdancers performing on the subway.  I already stated now twice that these two articles were part of a series of articles that have been posted regarding these sorts of quality of life issues.

 

Like most posters are on this site monitoring each thread you post?

 

You said "My main annoyances on the subway...." then you talked about breakdancers. Again, I didn't see anything on breakdancers in both articles, so I asked you about it.

 

Now you wish to tie on breakdancers to "quality of life issues."

 

Whatever.

 

Goodnight. Sorry I played your game.

[Quill Depot]

Brooklyn, I beleive VG8 is comparing the situation presented to others in the past, such as the previous breakdancer thread. There is no use in criticizing others without solid eveidence, it makes you look like a fool.

[FutureBusman]

So what about buses? The article seems to only focus on farebeating in the subway. Farebeaters are rampant on city buses.

[bobtehpanda]

So what about buses? The article seems to only focus on farebeating in the subway. Farebeaters are rampant on city buses.

 

Farebeating on buses is currently the department of the Eagle teams, and is also an order of magnitude harder than enforcing subway farebeaters (we have a set amount of exits and entrances around the subway that are fairly easy to monitor, but how many buses do we have roaming the system at any given time?)

[N6 Limited]

This explains why there's always cops at Woodhaven Blvd now. Every day there are some standing around in the mezanine, and occasionally I'll see a few sourrounding a few kids who are arrested. 

 

Now I noticed something about the ones getting arrested. The majority of the arrested ones are black, meanwhile others seem to just get a ticket. I have seen vice versa, but usually it's what I stated. 

 

Woodhaven Blvd is a prime spot for farebeaters as a lot of kids from school use that station (from the mall). The back entrance is usually where I see them, as if you're outside of fare zone you can't see if there are cops there or not on the right. Starting September 4th things are going to get interesting...

Right, and this is how statistics start getting warped/manipulated.

[SubwayGuy]

What many of you are missing is that arrests for farebeating are simply quite rare, especially when looked at in comparison to the number of fines issued. The majority of people are ticketed.
 
Arrests are warranted for farebeating in the following instances, as per the article as no one seems to mention:
 

Cops generally handcuff someone for fare-beating instead of writing up a ticket if the person has an open warrant or a criminal record, or doesn’t have ID on them, said NYPD an spokeswoman. The NYPD declined to comment further.

 

If you can catch a gangbanger with open warrants for fare evasion and use that to get him off the streets, you get him off the streets before he can do something else.

 

As for comments about "poverty" as the reason for doing this - there are very...VERY...and I mean VERY few people who are living in the kind of poverty that forces them to decide between food, clothes, or subway fare. A kid going to prom (which is not required...this is not part of going to school, graduating, and someday joining the workforce) does not mean he "needs" to go. Just bought a suit. Doesn't need it. Could have rented one. Does he own a smart phone? My money is on yes. Doesn't need that, a regular phone will do. You're telling me he can't spend $2.50? Instead, it gets to, he feels that transit should be free for things you feel you "have" to go to. Well life doesn't work that way. Nothing is free, and you have to work for everything. There's no glamor in being lazy and getting things handed to you, and yet that's what an entire generation of people seem to believe - that the goal in life is to get rich in the entertainment industry doing nothing of value, and then sit back, club, be famous, tweet about it every so often to your millions of adoring fans, and otherwise sit around and do not a whole lot except party and get paid.

 

If you think that's a goal in life, that's downright pathetic. People in that situation often wind up bored anyway or get caught up in other nonsense that brings them down in the end because their character was never good enough anyway. Instead of encouraging this malcontents and enabling them with this bleeding heart crap that says everyone's a victim except the victim, how about enforcing the rules that exist? We don't need new rules, what we need are to enforce the ones that are already there. The FAIR application of justice, across all demographics, is a true equalizer, and something that people bringing race into this don't seem to get. Certain minorities will always be represented higher in convictions until "hood" culture changes, because there is an underclass of all races but largely those two that inflates those statistics. Until circumstances change so that either that underclass stops reproducing (IE it becomes unattractive to members of the opposite sex to act like a gangbanger), or the values of minority neighborhoods change in such a way that they no longer stand for this behavior out of fear and actively attempt to remove it from their communities, the underclass will continue to plague "bad" neighborhoods which are largely minority, and thus they will get disproportionate attention from law enforcement as a result.

 

That said, I don't think the yoga instructor should have been placed in a cell with a homeless guy lying on a bench. He should have gotten a different cell without someone who is a severe risk for disease. The disgusting homeless who don't seem to mind bathing in their own piss should spend time around each other...maybe it even gets them to clean up their act by realizing how disgusting someone else can be.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Like most posters are on this site monitoring each thread you post?

 

You said "My main annoyances on the subway...." then you talked about breakdancers. Again, I didn't see anything on breakdancers in both articles, so I asked you about it.

 

Now you wish to tie on breakdancers to "quality of life issues."

 

Whatever.

 

Goodnight. Sorry I played your game.

Yes breakdancers are a quality of life issue on the subways, just like the farebeaters, swipers, etc. that Bratton spoke about in the two aforementioned articles.  I assume that you really believe that breakdancers jumping around on crowded subways creating dangerous environments and trying to coerce people into giving them money for their "entertainment" is perfectly acceptable.  The reality is that it is illegal.

 

Brooklyn, I believe VG8 is comparing the situation presented to others in the past, such as the previous breakdancer thread. There is no use in criticizing others without solid evidence, it makes you look like a fool.

You can't expect much from someone that doesn't even take the time to read before criticizing.... Ulterior motives...

 

What many of you are missing is that arrests for farebeating are simply quite rare, especially when looked at in comparison to the number of fines issued. The majority of people are ticketed.

 

Arrests are warranted for farebeating in the following instances, as per the article as no one seems to mention:

 

 

If you can catch a gangbanger with open warrants for fare evasion and use that to get him off the streets, you get him off the streets before he can do something else.

 

As for comments about "poverty" as the reason for doing this - there are very...VERY...and I mean VERY few people who are living in the kind of poverty that forces them to decide between food, clothes, or subway fare. A kid going to prom (which is not required...this is not part of going to school, graduating, and someday joining the workforce) does not mean he "needs" to go. Just bought a suit. Doesn't need it. Could have rented one. Does he own a smart phone? My money is on yes. Doesn't need that, a regular phone will do. You're telling me he can't spend $2.50? Instead, it gets to, he feels that transit should be free for things you feel you "have" to go to. Well life doesn't work that way. Nothing is free, and you have to work for everything. There's no glamor in being lazy and getting things handed to you, and yet that's what an entire generation of people seem to believe - that the goal in life is to get rich in the entertainment industry doing nothing of value, and then sit back, club, be famous, tweet about it every so often to your millions of adoring fans, and otherwise sit around and do not a whole lot except party and get paid.

 

If you think that's a goal in life, that's downright pathetic. People in that situation often wind up bored anyway or get caught up in other nonsense that brings them down in the end because their character was never good enough anyway. Instead of encouraging this malcontents and enabling them with this bleeding heart crap that says everyone's a victim except the victim, how about enforcing the rules that exist? We don't need new rules, what we need are to enforce the ones that are already there. The FAIR application of justice, across all demographics, is a true equalizer, and something that people bringing race into this don't seem to get. Certain minorities will always be represented higher in convictions until "hood" culture changes, because there is an underclass of all races but largely those two that inflates those statistics. Until circumstances change so that either that underclass stops reproducing (IE it becomes unattractive to members of the opposite sex to act like a gangbanger), or the values of minority neighborhoods change in such a way that they no longer stand for this behavior out of fear and actively attempt to remove it from their communities, the underclass will continue to plague "bad" neighborhoods which are largely minority, and thus they will get disproportionate attention from law enforcement as a result.

 

That said, I don't think the yoga instructor should have been placed in a cell with a homeless guy lying on a bench. He should have gotten a different cell without someone who is a severe risk for disease. The disgusting homeless who don't seem to mind bathing in their own piss should spend time around each other...maybe it even gets them to clean up their act by realizing how disgusting someone else can be.

Excellent post.

[CenSin]

Has anyone ever "looked at them wrong?" I mean the people jumping over turnstiles, asking for a swipe, or entering through the emergency exit. Some of them are quite profane or suck their teeth when you tell them you have no swipe for them. They're all signs of troublemaking in progress. Send them all to Alcatraz.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Has anyone ever "looked at them wrong?" I mean the people jumping over turnstiles, asking for a swipe, or entering through the emergency exit. Some of them are quite profane or suck their teeth when you tell them you have no swipe for them. They're all signs of troublemaking in progress. Send them all to Alcatraz.

Yeah we should... Often times these people have open warrants and have committed more serious crimes.

[CenSin]

Farebeating on buses is currently the department of the Eagle teams, and is also an order of magnitude harder than enforcing subway farebeaters (we have a set amount of exits and entrances around the subway that are fairly easy to monitor, but how many buses do we have roaming the system at any given time?)

Not to mention the number of bus stations… It's fairly unproductive to staff enough buses with cops and just as unproductive to have cops waiting by bus stops. A lot of farebeaters are kids getting on buses from school or to school. Some bus drivers are even complicit in the whole thing.

[N6 Limited]

Simple, use those internal cameras. When someone doesn't pay their fare, Hit that F5 button and have a sapshot sent to the police with the GPS location of the bus and the bus number,they can meet up with the bus and handle their business.

[Union Tpke]

Simple, use those internal cameras. When someone doesn't pay their fare, Hit that F5 button and have a sapshot sent to the police with the GPS location of the bus and the bus number,they can meet up with the bus and handle their business.

excellent idea!

[R160]

I was at Grand Central a few weeks ago to meet a friend from out of the city. He was new to the whole subway thing, so when he tried to swipe his card, he continuously got the "Please swipe again" message. After several failed attempts, he begins walking to a different turnstile except his last-ditch effort while walking away worked. So he leaned back over to the first turnstile to get ahead of the guy behind him that was breathing down his neck. His leg got caught on top of the turnstile and he almost fell over. We begin walking to the and a cop starts yelling at us and brings us to the booth.

 

He took our Metrocards and I.D. into the booth to check if we actually used a swipe (timestamps) and then he came back out and explained the turnstiles have sensors and the one my friend used went off. Not sure how many of these stations have sensors, but I mean, it worked so maybe they could use more of those.

 

In regards to people who sell swipes, I was getting off at the 30th Av station and I got downstairs and a gentlemen asked me for a swipe. I had an unlimited so I said sure. I swiped so he could go through and he asked me 'how much?' I said 'I can't take any money'. I start walking away, but he doesn't go through the turnstile. Probably a plainclothes cop.

[SubwayGuy]

Not to mention the number of bus stations… It's fairly unproductive to staff enough buses with cops and just as unproductive to have cops waiting by bus stops. A lot of farebeaters are kids getting on buses from school or to school. Some bus drivers are even complicit in the whole thing.

 

Bus drivers are not "complicit" in the whole thing. They just value their own personal safety. Bus drivers have been murdered for disputes over the fare, which shows how ridiculous the problem is.