NYPD to flood subways with 800 more cops to target fare-beaters as crime surges

The NYPD is blitzing the subway system with 800 more cops over the next five days to hunt down fare-beaters as it continues to attack the quality-of-life issue, claiming the move curbs far more violent crimes.

The department’s new “Operation Fare Play” — which comes one day after a Post analysis found that violent attacks on the rails have jumped by more than 50% since 2019 — will target stations throughout the five boroughs, NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said at a press conference with other department brass at the subway stop at 125th Street and Lenox Avenue in Manhattan on Monday.

The extra officers will be deployed to stations based on the transit stops’ crime levels, MTA statistics and community complaints, Chell said.

“This is not a one-week deal,” Chell said of the “surge” tactic.

“We’re gonna do it time and time again. We’re not giving the locations ’cause we don’t want people to know,” he said. “What we want them to know is, ‘Don’t think you can come down here and get a free ride and bring your weapons.’

NYPD Transit Chief Michael Kemper added, “Blatant fare evasion at the turnstiles remains one of the primary complaints from both law-abiding subway riders and the MTA.

“Our riders should not be subjected to open acts of lawlessness anywhere in our subway system, and that tone of law and order must start at the fare gates,” he said. “Don’t do it. Don’t jump, don’t crawl, don’t come through the gate. Make the right decision.”

Kemper said 20 straphangers have been busted so far this year for packing heat — including 11 discovered with guns during a fare-beating stop.

Earlier this month, unhinged fare-beater Dajuan Robinson, 36, was shot in the head with his own gun on a rush-hour Brooklyn train when he started harassing and threatening another rider and the straphanger turned the tables on him. The straphanger, who fired the gun, was not charged, with authorities saying it was a case of self-defense.

The NYPD said Monday that overall subway crime has dipped more than 15% so far this month compared to the same period in 2023, praising the previous flooding of the system with extra officers.

Kemper said 28,000 summonses have already been issued for fare-beating so far this year — and about 1,700 turnstile jumpers have been arrested.

“This is about correcting behavior and keeping the subway system safe and our riders ultimately safe,” the transit chief said.

“Let me be clear: Fare evasion enforcement and turnstile presence is a key component to our crime-reduction strategy. We do that every day. Every day of the year. This is not something new. This week we’re stepping it up,” he said.

Police said the cops will include both uniformed and undercover officers from throughout the city.

Kemper said repeat offenders are a constant concern.

He said there were 13,600 people busted in the subways last year, including 124 who had at least five arrests on their record — and had more than 7,500 combined busts on their rap sheets over the years, Kemper said.

“There’s no more freebies anymore. You talk about weapons coming down? This is where it stops,” Chell said.

But the plan did little to ease lingering safety concerns for city subway riders Monday.

“Deploying more cops for fare-beaters may stop your financial problem — but if you think criminals can’t pay your measly $2.90, then you need to look again,” said straphanger Michael Griffin, a 32-year-old security guard who regularly takes the No. 2 train, to The Post.

Harlem mom Sierra said she is terrified every time her teen daughter rides the subway to school.

“There’s absolutely no way that crime is down from last month,” she said. “In this month alone, I’ve heard of attack after attack. Didn’t someone just get shot on the train? How is crime down?

“Are we talking about the same crimes or the same trains? They must be talking about the Metro-North or the Long Island Railroad, because the subways are definitely not safe.”

The launch of Operation Fare Play follows The Post report that found that despite an overall dip in transit crime, the number of violent attacks that have left subway victims seriously injured has spiked.

Statistics show there were 570 felony assaults in the subway system last year, up from 373 similar attacks in 2019, for a jump of 53%.

Felony assault also accounted for a larger chunk of overall crime in the system over those years, making up 25% of major transit crimes last year compared to just 15% in 2019, the stats show.

“The only thing I look forward to in retirement is being able to never take the subway again,” 54-year-old maintenance worker Ramon Garcia told The Post on Monday.

“If commuters had another affordable way to get to work and school, they would be out of business, because riding the train should not be a threat to my life,” he said. “It’s definitely the ’80s again.”