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NYC Subways Take Another Hit: Sex Crimes Up 51 Percent In Last Three Years

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Kerry Picket Political Reporter
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Confidence in the New York City subway system spiraled further downward after reports surfaced about rising sex crimes on the trains and platforms as well as recent violence underground that caused a mass evacuation of straphangers.

New York Democratic State Sen. Diane Savino told The New York Post Tuesday night that reports of forcible touching, public lewdness, sex abuse, forcible touching and other sex crimes shot up 51 percent in the past three years.

According to a report by Savino, there were 620 reported sex crimes in the transit system in 2014, 738 in 2015, and 941 in 2016.

She added that numbers are still going up and have increased nine percent this year to 434 reported crimes as of May 28.

“Subway grinding and lewdness are serious sex crimes meant to threaten and humiliate victims,” said Savino, who is pushing legislation in Albany to make forcible touching a felony crime.

The report comes on the heels of recent multiple subway service power outages that left riders stranded without light or heat for long stretches of time.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, however, blames the delays of the subways on Gov. Andrew Cuomo, saying last month that Cuomo “should just own up” to the problem.

Subway riders are also on the lookout for violence in the transit system.

Riders were forced into a mass evacuation that ended in a stampede Wednesday morning when a report of a mass stabbing or assault was reported on or near a subway near Central Park West, NBC New York reported.

Fire officials only say that a stabbing was reported on the B train at the 81st Street-Museum of Natural History station stop.

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