Murders across New York City's subway system have surged by a shocking 60% so far this year, even as overall crime on the rails has dipped, leaving straphangers increasingly terrified for their safety.

According to NYPD data, eight people have been slaughtered on subway cars or in stations as of September 8, up from just five during the same period last year. The surge in killings is closing in on the 25-year high set in 2022, which saw ten murders in the transit system—a grim milestone unseen since 1997. For over two decades, from 1997 to 2020, the city never recorded more than five subway murders in a single year, the NY Post reports.

"It’s not a safe environment to be waiting for the train," said Jakeba Dockery, 42, whose husband, Richard Henderson, was fatally gunned down in January on a 3 train in Brooklyn while trying to break up a fight between riders over loud music. "It just feels evil," she told The Post.

The latest casualty in the wave of violence was Freddie Weston, a 47-year-old grocer shot dead near the MetroCard booth at the Rockaway Avenue station in Brooklyn on September 5, just after 11 p.m. Weston, who was heading to work in College Point, might still be alive if there had been cameras near the station’s ticketing area, his sister Tina claimed. “They took the opportunity because there wasn’t [any] camera,” she said, her voice cracking.

Despite these horrific incidents, the NYPD points to a slew of high-profile safety initiatives that have helped tamp down an early-year surge in underground crime. Heavily trafficked stations were flooded with 750 National Guardsmen, and an additional 1,000 NYPD officers were deployed to monitor the subway system.

And, indeed, there has been some success: Total subway crime has decreased nearly 6% this year compared with the same period in 2023, with robberies down about 18% and felony assaults dropping nearly 5%, according to an NYPD spokesperson.

"This overall crime reduction is due in large part to thorough investigations by detectives into every major crime within the subway, and the proactive work of officers deployed in the transit system," the spokesperson said. "This year alone, those very officers removed 43 guns (compared to 28 last year) and 1,536 knives (compared to 1,004 last year) from the subway system, the highest weapons seizure rates in the last decade."

But even with more weapons off the rails, violent crime remains well above pre-pandemic levels, and many riders are still sweating over whether their next ride will be on the “Murder Express.”

"You don’t know if you’re going to make it home," retiree Vickie Reeves, 68, bemoaned while making a rare subway trip at the Times Square station. "There’s a lot of mental illness, and it’s painful to your heart that you don’t know who you come in contact with, if they’re going to push you in front of the train."

Joseph Giacalone, an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, believes the persistence in murders is partly due to a "worn out" police force and a brain-drain of veteran transit officers, as many cops resign or retire. "You can’t have just anyone patrol the subway — it’s a different animal," he said.

For Dockery, the widow of the Brooklyn shooting victim, the solution is simple: avoid the subway altogether. She now drives her car around the city - ferrying her daughter to and from high school basketball games and running errands. "I don’t do the MTA," she said. "Between the anger [of violent straphangers], the mentally ill, I can’t."

Crime Rates Remain High Across America Under Biden Administration

While New York’s subway system contends with a wave of murders, new national data reveals a troubling trend: crime rates across the United States have remained elevated under President Biden, directly contradicting propaganda spat out by the media and the White House.

According to data from the National Crime Victimization Survey released by the Justice Department on Thursday, 22.5 of every 1,000 residents reported being the victim of a violent crime in 2023, and 102.2 per 1,000 reported experiencing a property crime. Both figures are statistically unchanged from 2022 but are significantly higher than in 2020, the last year under President Trump, the Washington Times reports.

John R. Lott Jr., president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, noted that the data paints a stark picture of rising crime under the Biden administration, contrasting with the drop seen under Trump. "Violent crime increased by 37% under the Biden administration, compared to a drop of 17% under the Trump administration," Lott said.

The discrepancy in narratives has been a point of contention in political arenas. Mr. Trump’s campaign quickly seized on the new data, stating, "crime rates remain WAY UP under Kamala Harris — throwing a dagger straight through the heart of claims to the contrary by Democrats and their Fake News allies."

Via donaldjtrump.com:

• FACT: Violent crime is up 37% between 2020 and last year.
  • Rape is up 42%.
  • Robbery is up 63%.
  • Assault is up 34%.
  • Violent crime (excluding simple assault) is up 55%.
  • Domestic violence is up 32%.
  • Stranger violence is up 61%.
  • Violent crime (with an injury) is up 10%.
  • Violent crime (with a weapon) is up 56%.
  • Motor vehicle theft is up 42%.

• FACT: The total number of violent crimes reported last year is higher than any year under President Trump.
   
• FACT: Kamala has overseen the two highest years for total Americans victimized by violent crime since 2012.
   
• FACT: Kamala has presided over three of the four most murderous years in the last quarter century.
   
• FACT: In most cities, murder rates remain higher than pre-pandemic levels.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration and Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign have cited FBI data to argue that crime rates are falling. However, Lott argues that FBI data is misleading. In 2020, 97% of police departments reported their data to the FBI, but by 2022, 31% were not reporting at all, and another 24% were providing incomplete data.

"Crime is through the roof," said Trump during last week's presidential debate. When debate moderator David Muir attempted a fact-check using FBI data suggesting a decrease in violent crime, Trump fired back, questioning the reliability of the data—a sentiment echoed by Lott.

"The victimization data showed significant improvements in several major crimes during the Trump administration. Aggravated assaults fell by 24% under Mr. Trump but rose 55% under Mr. Biden, according to the data for 2023," Lott continued. "Robbery, which fell 6% under Mr. Trump, is up 63% under Mr. Biden. Rape, which was flat under Mr. Trump, is up 42% under Mr. Biden."

While the FBI’s homicide data did show a 6.1% drop in homicides from 2021 to 2022, the discrepancy between victimization data and FBI-reported data raises questions about the real state of crime in America. The FBI's better coverage of homicides, which are almost always reported, is an exception in what Lott calls an increasingly unreliable dataset.

Some experts caution that neither survey alone provides a full picture of crime trends, noting that regional variations can skew national data. But as crime remains a hot-button issue, both in New York’s subways and across the country, the battle over the truth is far from over.